Agricultural solar support

How can farmers benefit from solar energy?

Farmers can benefit from solar energy in several ways—by leasing farmland for solar; installing a solar system on a house, barn, or other building; or through agrivoltaics. Agrivoltaics is defined as agriculture, such as crop production, livestock grazing, and pollinator habitat, located underneath solar panels and/or between rows of solar panels.

Should solar energy be co-located with agriculture?

Scaling up the co-location of solar energy and agriculture can reduce land-use conflicts and provide economic benefits to farmers and solar energy developers. This work also seeks to help farmers pursue climate-smart and sustainable agriculture and bring economic benefits to underserved communities in farming areas.

Can solar power be used for agriculture?

Still, utility-scale solar projects can require hundreds of acres, and new solar projects sometimes face resistance given competing needs for food-producing farmland or recreational space. But new studies point to the multiple benefits of combining solar electricity generation with agricultural production.

Are solar photovoltaic systems suitable for agriculture?

Hence, solar photovoltaic (PV) systems can be flexible for agrivoltaic setups, so enabling renewable energy facilities to be compatible with a more efficient and sustainable agriculture model .

Can agrivoltaics support food production?

And because water evaporation from the plants cooled the panels, the solar system itself generated 3% more electricity during the summer, showing how both food and solar production can perform better when done in collaboration. Agrivoltaics can support plant production, but with what effects on animals?

Will agricultural land be used for solar energy?

Agricultural land in the U.S. has the technical potential to provide 27 terawatts of solar energy capacity. This is a quarter of the total U.S. solar energy capacity of 115 TW. Only 0.3% of farmland is expected to be used for solar energy by 2035. Will using land for solar panels drive up the price of food?