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Dual-Use Plan of the Year Finalists
Recognizing outstanding excellence in innovation, design, performance and/or function of a planned, but not yet constructed, dual-use (agrivoltaics or ecovoltaics) solar development project. Nominations should be post-design phase projects formerly submitted for approval with relevant regulatory authorities.
Dual Harvest Program at Garrett High School
Crops + CTE | Garrett High School located, in Dekalb County, Indiana
Very rarely is a situation a win-win. The Dual Harvest program is just that. Creating a modern agricultural career and technical education (CTE) program that provides food boxes for local less fortunate families is a win-win.
This 88 acre solar array will produce small livestock and produce specifically grown by Garrett High School agriculture students. Then those students will create videos on how to cook/prepare this food that will be accessed through QR coded food boxes (Think Hello Fresh). Win-Win.
By later summer and fall 2024 the Dual Harvest program will be putting food on the table for local families, a responsibility that is met with grit and determination. The instructor and students are excited for the opportunities the Dual Harvest program brings and the global model it can be to the next generation of high schools.
Check out the video for this first-of-its-kind project!
Old Myers Farm
Strawberries, tomatoes, peppers and lavender and more | Wappingers Falls, New York
The project is extraordinary as it will harvest a unique set of crops including strawberries, tomatoes, peppers and lavender, among others. Lightstar will be working with local institutions to study the produce grown, and create financial and agricultural case studies that will be disseminated widely – benefiting the overall industry and improving the working knowledge of solar farming.
Old Myers is a 2MW project that will enhance food security for the local community, while generating solar energy to make the local grid cleaner and more reliable. Moreover, renewable energy will be used across the crop-growing cycle to achieve carbon neutrality on the farm.
With this project, Lightstar took an active advocacy and community engagement route to garner favor for the project. The project marks a significant milestone for the agriculture and solar industry, fostering energy independence as well as environmental and land stewardship in New York.
Additionally, Lightstar has been engaged with the Old Myers farm owners since early 2022 to help rezone the property at no cost. As a result, the farm encompasses a greater solar and crop use case, further improving productivity and efficiency.
In the news:
Mammoth Solar
Crops + Critters + Conservation | Monterey, Indiana
The 13,000 acre Mammoth Solar Project in Indiana is one of the largest solar renewable energy facilities in America. It is also a massive agrivoltaics and pollinator farm backed by investments in science, agronomy and the local farmers.
The effort is gaining wide-ranging community acceptance by bringing farming back to the way it used to be when more food was grown and livestock was a localized business. 1,500 sheep, Kune Kune pigs, dozens of alpaca and donkeys and other animals are managing the vegetation. Crops like popcorn, hay, melons, blueberries and honey are in various stages of implementation. The project also tied some of its power purchase agreements to pollinator habitat commitments in and around the solar field.
The project will create 1.3 GW of power, enough clean energy to power approximately 275,000 homes. This $1.5 billion project is segmented into three phases: Mammoth North, which energizes in July, and Mammoth South, and Mammoth Central which enter full construction late this Spring. Each phase is contracted with long term power purchase agreements with industry leaders that recognize agrivoltaics such as American Electric Power (AEP), Bank of America, PNC, and Constellation, solidifying its significance in the renewable energy landscape.
Project websites:
Read more from farmers' perspectives:
Rutgers University Agrivoltaics Research and Demonstration Project
Crops + Livestock | New Brunswick, Bridgeton, and Pittstown New Jersey
The Rutgers University Agrivoltaic project is a research project designed by the state’s largest public university to help inform New Jersey’s dual-use solar program. This program will help aid NJ in meeting it's very aggressive goal for 100% renewable energy by 2050. The Agrivoltaic research team at Rutgers University is determined to assist the state in accomplishing this goal by demonstrating to farmers the benefits of combining solar with farming as a means to maintaining or increasing their crop yields, saving money on their electric bills, and preserving the dwindling farmland in the state. These research projects constructed by ASP are the first necessary step to creating an economical, replicable and accessible agrivoltaic project models for NJ farmers.
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) has approved an agreement with the Rutgers University Agrivoltaics Program (RAP) to facilitate the development and implementation of a Dual-Use Solar Energy Pilot Program over the next three years. ASP's Rutgers University projects that focus on combining both livestock and horticulture with solar will serve as the templates for other future projects. The work done on these 3 projects being nominated is the stepping stone to more Agrivoltaic success in New Jersey and all over the U.S.
NJ's Dual-Use Pilot Program will focus heavily on a research component to determine the optimal equipment, design and mix of horticultural and livestock combinations. This research element can be prohibitive to new entrants in the market. The Rutgers Agrivoltaic project takes a huge leap forward in the R&D component of the program, making the state's program far more accessible to individual farmers who can benefit from the R&D already performed by Rutgers. Additionally, the Rutgers team will be serving as a huge resource for farmers considering solar and will streamline the development process, leading to lower entry costs and therefore more financeable projects.
Project website: https://www.advancedsolarproducts.com/agrivoltaics
Alliant Energy Solar Farm at Iowa State University
Strawberries, raspberries, squash, broccoli, peppers | Ames, Iowa
The Alliant Energy Solar Farm at Iowa State University was made possible through an innovative public/private partnership centered around high-level agricultural and energy research opportunities. It brings together industry experts from a top-five ag program in North America situated in the top state for ag production and a leader in renewable energy in the Midwest.
The farm includes fixed and tracking panels at varying heights and a controlled growing area to fully research the impacts of solar panels on crop production and vice versa, with results shared to project partners in the utility and solar space, and the university's extension network will provide decision support tools and agrivoltaics training programs for farmers and other stakeholders in the state.
The farm was made possible by a $1.8 million grant from the Department of Energy's Foundational Agrivoltaic Research for Megawatt Scale (FARMS) program and will cover research and demonstration costs over the first five years.
The Alliant Energy Solar Farm at ISU was constructed in 2023 and will be placed into operation in early 2024. Researchers began planting fruits in the fall of 2023 and will conduct the first full growing season in 2024.
We hope this project and research shows that agriculture and renewables can peacefully co-exist. The results of this research will be shared with project partners in the utility and solar space, and the university's extension network will provide decision support tools and agrivoltaics training programs for farmers and other stakeholders in the state.
Check out the project website!
Vertical Solar: Showcasing a Farmer-Friendly Agrivoltaics Solution
Beets, Carrots, Peas, Beans, Saffron, Lettuce | Burlington, Vermont
This University of Vermont project is among the first in the U.S. to use a freestanding vertical bifacial photovoltaic array for research and demonstration of its agrarian use on farms. It will demonstrate the simultaneous use of land for generating solar energy and growing vegetable crops.
The Entomology Research Laboratory team from University of Vermont will study the plant growth behavior under these new conditions and compare it to a full-sun reference field. This project will use the space in between rows of vertical photovoltaic modules, and even the small land strips under the modules, to cultivate different kinds of vegetables, such as beets, carrots, peas, beans, saffron and lettuce. They will analyze how the different crops grow compared to full-sun reference crops.
Factors to be analyzed (all compared to the reference crops in full-sun):
- How vegetables crops grow in Vermont’s changing climate in a vertical agrivoltaics array
- Quality and quantity of the different crops at different locations in the growing spaces around the arrays
- Microenvironmental conditions in several growing areas around the array, including sunlight, temperature and moisture (in soil and air)
Project related websites:
https://site.uvm.edu/agrivoltaics/
https://next2sun.com/en/agripv/agrivoltaics-project-vermont/
https://projects.sare.org/sare_project/lne22-454r/
https://isunenergy.com/nes/next2sun-andisun-build-first-vertical-agrivoltaics-system-in-the-usa
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