2025 People Awards Finalists
Recognizing outstanding achievements and excellence of individuals advancing dual-use solar development.
Solar Farmer of the Year Finalists
Recognizing outstanding achievements and excellence in solar farming.
The Solar Farmer of the Year Award recognizes an extraordinary farmer who has demonstrated exceptional achievements in growing vegetables, fruits, grains and other crops in agrivoltaic systems in the field. This singular accolade celebrates those who have not only embraced the practice of agrivoltaics and achieved prodigious success cropping and producing solar power in symbiosis, but who exemplify professional excellence in their efforts to pair agricultural production and solar energy and advance the field of solar farming by their example.
Chad Higgins
Associate Professor | Oregon State University
Dr. Chad Higgins is an Associate Professor at Oregon State University and a national leader in agrivoltaics research. His early academic work—including a landmark 2020 paper—helped shape foundational understanding of how solar energy and agriculture can share the same land to improve overall land-use efficiency. Today, Chad’s research is grounded in real-world settings such as the Solar Harvest project, a five-acre agrivoltaic farm at OSU’s North Willamette Research and Extension Center (NWREC) in Aurora, Oregon.
Located within some of the most productive soils in the country, the Solar Harvest site allows Chad and his team to trial a wide variety of shade-tolerant and photosynthetically efficient crops, including alfalfa, spinach, garlic, carrots, sweet potatoes, and yams. Chad has also been a great mentor to students at OSU, inspiring the next generation of researchers and agricultural innovators in the emerging field of agrivoltaics. Beyond academia, he actively meets with policymakers to help them understand agrivoltaics’ potential and inform policy decisions that support sustainable land and energy use.
Beyond Solar Harvest, Chad and his team are actively studying the Lettuce Shine project, where innovative elevated solar towers provide dynamic, moving shade to heat-sensitive crops like lettuce and spinach at Our Table Farm in Oregon. These dual-axis tracking towers generate more power than traditional solar panels while allowing full access underneath for planting and harvesting. The research led by Chad focuses on finding the optimum balance between shade and solar energy production, generating data to inform future agrivoltaic designs that support both productive farming and resilient clean energy systems.
Learn more about Chad’s work at Oregon State’s research projects at the link below.
‘It's a true synergy’: OSU research shows promise of combining solar energy with agriculture
Joe Czajkowski
Third-Generation Farmer and Local Food Advocate | Pioneer Valley, Massachusetts
Joe Czajkowski is a third-generation grower who farms over 400 acres in Hadley, Massachusetts, producing organic and conventional fruits and vegetables for schools, universities, grocery stores, and local restaurants. He was one of the first farmers in the country to take a chance on agrivoltaics. Partnering with Hyperion Systems, he installed a 2.2-acre solar array on one of his less productive fields, intentionally designed to support both solar energy generation and crop production. The project meets the standards of the Massachusetts SMART program and earned the Agricultural Adder for its commitment to long-term, continuous agricultural use.
Joe began growing under the array in 2023 and has successfully harvested broccoli and spinach in rotation since. He has shown that solar and farming can coexist without sacrificing food production. By supplying produce to institutions like UMass Amherst, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and his local school district, he’s helping build a resilient local food system while advancing a new model for land stewardship. Joe openly shares what he’s learning and continues to advocate for wider adoption of agrivoltaics, providing other farmers with a clear, practical example of how agrivoltaics can work.
Learn more about Joe’s agrivoltaic project, his crop trials, and his community food partnerships at the links below.
Juli Burden
Agrivoltaic Systems Lead | Hawai‘i Agriculture Research Center, O‘ahu
Juli Burden leads agrivoltaics research at the Hawai‘i Agriculture Research Center, advancing new agricultural models that support Hawai‘i’s clean energy goals while helping strengthen local food systems. As Agrivoltaic Systems Lead, she is testing dozens of tropical crops beneath utility-scale solar arrays and generating data to guide future policies and farming practices across the islands. Her work is part of a larger effort to integrate solar with agriculture in a way that meets statewide energy targets and supports working lands.
At a solar research site in Mililani, Juli’s team has tested over 30 crops, from leafy greens and broccoli to lavender, taro, sweet potatoes, and poha berries. Her research explores both hydroponic and in-ground systems beneath auto-tracking panels and emphasizes crops with strong market or cultural significance. Indigenous and staple crops like māmaki and trellised vanilla maile are also being studied for long-term feasibility. Supported by a rare collaboration between energy companies Clearway, Longroad Energy, and AES, the project is designed to maximize land use and explore benefits like water efficiency, improved solar performance, and safer working conditions for farmers.
Juli’s work models how energy and agriculture can coexist, and how agrivoltaics can serve as a bridge toward greater resilience, sustainability, and food independence in island communities.
Learn more about Juli’s project and agrivoltaics at the links below.
Paul Knowlton
Farmer and Landowner | Knowlton Farms, Grafton, Massachusetts
Paul Knowlton is the steward of Knowlton Farms in Grafton, Massachusetts, where his family has grown crops for more than 150 years. With a deep commitment to protecting the farm for future generations, Paul has embraced a new chapter by integrating solar into the family’s legacy. In partnership with solar developers BlueWave and then AES, and supported by key local, state, and federal collaborators, he helped launch a first-of-its-kind agrivoltaics project. After a long hiatus, the Knowltons returned to full-time farming with new tools and renewed purpose.
Today, Knowlton Farms hosts a 2 MW community solar array with 1.4 MW of battery storage. The system is designed specifically for agricultural use, with elevated panels over 10 feet high and wider row spacing that accommodates cattle grazing and farm equipment. The site has also served as a national research trial for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technology Office, with University of Massachusetts Amherst and American Farmland Trust conducting studies on crop yields, soil health, and microclimate conditions. Paul is layering regenerative practices with solar income, creating a model that improves land quality while restoring agricultural productivity. His work demonstrates how solar can support farming in both practical and lasting ways.
Learn more about Paul’s project, the research underway, and his approach to regenerative farming in the videos below.
Sarah Moser & Kyle Gehres
Agrivoltaics Leader & Farmer | Madison County, Ohio
Sarah Moser and Kyle Gehres are forging new ground where agriculture meets energy. A veteran and farmer, Sarah now serves as Director of Farming Operations and Agrivoltaics at Savion, one of the nation’s largest solar developers. She is leading efforts at the Madison Fields Solar Project in Madison County, Ohio, a 180 MW utility-scale site designed to show how farming and solar energy production can successfully coexist.
At Madison Fields, traditional crops like alfalfa, hay, corn, and soybeans grow between rows of solar panels, alongside pollinator habitats and native grasses. Sarah’s husband Kyle, a lifelong farmer, brings vital on-the-ground knowledge to the project, offering practical insight and operational support. Together, the couple is helping shape a new model for dual land use that works for both farmers and the energy industry.
Moser and Gehres are part of Savion’s Think Like a Farmer™ initiative, which draws on decades of team farming experience to guide responsible land stewardship from site acquisition to operations. Through this lens, agrivoltaics becomes not just a technical solution, but a practical path forward for working lands.
In partnership with The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and supported by a U.S. Department of Energy grant, the Moser and Gehres work on the Between the Rows initiative, informing best practices in solar-integrated agriculture and demonstrating how clean energy and farming can grow together.
Learn more about their current work below.
Solar Rancher of the Year Finalists
Recognizing outstanding achievements and excellence in solar grazing.
The Solar Rancher of the Year Award recognizes an exceptional rancher or grazier who has demonstrated outstanding achievements in agrivoltaic pasturage, ranching and livestocking in the field. This singular accolade celebrates those who have not only embraced the practice of agrivoltaics and achieved prodigious success pairing pasturage and solar power, but who exemplify professional excellence in their efforts to pair livestock production and solar power and advance the field of solar ranching by their example.
Daniel Dotterer
Solar Grazier | Pennsylvania
Daniel Dotterer lives on his family farm, outside of State College, Pennsylvania, where his family has been farming continuously since 1722. After years in the entertainment industry, Daniel is one of the few who have returned to his family’s land and renewed the hope that the legacy of farming will carry on. While the eighth-generation farmer remembers days of the farm raising mostly beef cattle, Daniel has led the advance into agrivoltaic opportunities and now cares for one of the largest sheep flocks in the state.
A natural and talented innovator, Daniel’s diverse skillset took him all the way to Hollywood before he came back home to save the farm. His family’s remote Clinton County beef farm turned out to be the perfect stage to train the performer’s spirit. When his nose was not stuck in a book, Daniel learned how to juggle and ride a unicycle to keep himself entertained. These circus skills and desire to see the world landed him eventually in Hollywood with a successful showbusiness career in production after some acting–including as a story production assistant on the original “Despicable Me.”
Today, Daniel is writing a new story and rekindling the legacy of a farming family that stretches across the centuries. Living this new American agriculture dream, Daniel is a powerful example of what is possible to a generation of farmers asking themselves how they will rise to the challenge, adapt and overcome like their forebearers before.
Ely Valdez
Solar Grazier, Leader and Mentor | South-Central United States
Like so many aspiring farmers, land access barriers once held Ely Valdez back from his dream of following his grandfather’s path as a livestock rancher. He and his wife kept 27 sheep on three acres as a hobby, while Ely provided for the family elsewhere. After losing his mortgage lending job in the 2008 recession, Ely found himself in the oil fields, traveling constantly from job to job with three toddlers at home.
In 2015, a small solar site popped up across the street from the Valdez’s home outside San Antonio, Texas. Ely asked about using the land to feed his flock of 27, never imagining that the project owners would offer to compensate him for grazing as a service. Suddenly, Ely was earning a living with his sheep, working as a full-time farmer.
Demand for his services grew exponentially. Within 10 years, Ely was an American Solar Grazing Association Board Member managing 14,000 head of sheep across Texas, Louisiana and Alabama. As the Valdez family’s business thrived, Ely made sure to share the opportunity with other aspiring solar graziers, teaching and supporting his mentees as sub-contractors on his sites. For some of these folks, working with Ely has meant learning to graze sheep on their own family land, continuing to farm the acres they leased to solar. For others, it has meant moving their flocks to “greener pastures” from drought-ravaged West Texas, when selling the sheep was their only other option.
Ely is currently working with and mentoring nine shepherds across his portfolio, each of them growing their own flock under his leadership. He fields additional inquiries from aspiring solar graziers across the United States almost weekly, sharing his expertise and support with these folks as they seek their first contracts. Ely has been proud to see many of his mentees find their place in solar grazing, building successful careers just as he did.
Learn more about Ely’s story and the value of sheep grazing in the video below.
Raising sheep on solar farms: Meet families helping revive America's sheep industry
Jim Malooley & Jack Mason
Solar Ranching Team | Silicon Ranch Corporation, Georgia
At Silicon Ranch’s Houston Solar Project in Georgia, Jim Malooley and Jack Mason are building something far greater than a low-carbon grazing operation. As Director of Agrivoltaic Operations and Agrivoltaics Technician, Jim and Jack manage the largest company-owned flock of solar-grazing sheep in the U.S., where over 800 Katahdin sheep now maintain 560 acres of solar arrays without a single mower. Their daily work reflects a balance of tradition, research, and care—keeping grass trimmed, sheep healthy, and the land thriving.
Together, Jim and Jack are reshaping what it means to ranch in the age of renewables. Their leadership has helped turn Silicon Ranch’s 4,500-head flock into a national model of agrivoltaic excellence. From a state-of-the-art lambing barn to participation in the National Sheep Improvement Program, their efforts are advancing parasite resistance, animal welfare, and the long-term viability of the American sheep industry.
Their team brings together experience in ecology, ranching, and conservation, and they are actively building a pipeline of new talent by mentoring students and leading tours for schools and universities. Whether managing thousands of acres, stewarding lambs through a cold snap, or expanding access to critical vaccines, Jim and Jack approach their work with integrity, innovation, and deep respect. They are helping others see how solar grazing can work—and work well—across farms, regions, and generations.
Learn more about their work and impact.
- Solar farm combines renewable energy and agricultural techniques on one property | AP News
- Permanent sheep flock leaves Georgia solar project’s land healthier than before
- Houston Solar Project – Silicon Ranch
- Houston Solar, Rebuilding the sheep industry through Regenerative Energy® (Houston County, GA) – Silicon Ranch
JR Howard
Owner & Operator of Texas Solar Sheep
JR Howard and his family own and operate Texas Solar Sheep northeast of Dallas, Texas, which has quickly grown into one of the country’s largest solar grazing companies and a leader in utility-scale vegetation management. Starting with a family flock of around 300 ewes, JR didn’t know much about large-scale solar grazing when first asked to look into it back in 2020. Most resources were then geared toward graziers on smaller 5–15-acre sites, not the thousand-acre sites that were rapidly scaling in his area. But resources from the American Solar Grazing Association, friendly collaboration with fellow graziers, support from American Farmland Trust, an entrepreneurial attitude, and a lot of grit, all worked to help power the Howard family to blaze a trail to successful utility-scale solar grazing.
JR’s prior work experience in large-scale logistics operations also helped, and now the Howards are managing thousands of sheep on multiple sites in their area and making a major impact on the local economy. Texas Solar Sheep uses local labor and vendors to impact the rural economies they serve, with JR regularly highlighting small businesses on his social media platforms. An advocate for other graziers wanting to get started with solar grazing, JR is working with cooperating producers, helping some access small plots as they gain experience and expand. He has spoken at over a dozen events in the last year to share his experiences and offer advice freely.
President of the Texas Dorper Sheep Association and on the national board of directors for the American Dorper Sheep Breeders Society too, JR’s exceptional work and leadership ethics are powerful testaments that America’s highest dreams for thriving, enduring agricultural entrepreneurship are alive and well. And with the next generation of Howard’s already engaged and excited to drive their family’s farm business forward, Texas Solar Sheep provides powerful hope that the future of farming and ranching is bright.
Julie Bishop
Founder of Solar Sheep LLC and Solar Grazing Pioneer | New Jersey
Julie Bishop was grazing sheep on solar sites before the term “solar grazing” even existed. A lifelong animal lover, Julie’s journey began with Mandy, her Australian Cattle Dog, who inspired her to raise sheep and learn the art of herding. As her flock grew, she sought more pasture—and saw an opportunity in a nearby solar array. What followed was a years-long effort to change local zoning regulations, conduct community outreach, and work alongside a solar developer to make sheep grazing under panels a reality. That effort led to the founding of Solar Sheep LLC, one of the first businesses of its kind in the U.S.
Julie now grazes solar sites across three states, using her firsthand experience to help shape an entire industry. As a co-founder of the American Solar Grazing Association, she has helped build community and credibility for a profession that blends renewable energy, land stewardship, and livestock care. She also champions direct-to-customer meat sales and sustainable supply chains that bring additional value to solar grazing operations.
Julie’s work continues to inspire the next generation of graziers and proves that practical, regenerative solutions can come from humble beginnings and grow into something much larger.
Learn more about Julie’s story in the links below.
Marcus & Jess Gray
Farmers and Founders of Gray’s LAMBscaping | Virginia
Marcus & Jess Gray are the mighty husband-and-wife team behind Gray’s LAMBscaping, a family-owned business providing ecological vegetation management with sheep (and hopefully cattle) across solar sites in Virginia and beyond. With a growing flock and a strong client list that includes Dominion Energy, Urban Grid Solar, and Vesper Energy, the Grays are proving how targeted grazing can be a practical, scalable solution for maintaining solar farms while supporting local agriculture.
Jess, CEO of the company, brings business vision and deep industry knowledge to the work. She serves as secretary on the board of directors for the American Solar Grazing Association (ASGA) and as a 2023 Nuffield International Agricultural Scholar, she led research and outreach to expand the impact of solar grazing nationwide. Marcus, company president, is a Certified Wildlife Biologist whose conservation background informs their holistic approach to land stewardship. Together, they’ve built a model that’s rooted in ecology, shaped by science, and powered by a multigenerational commitment to working the land.
Both Marcus and Jess actively (and tirelessly) engage in every opportunity to educate their community and the solar industry through conversations, events and conferences. In 2024, the Gray's launched the Sheep Empire podcast to share practical advice and lessons learned, real stories from the field, and a hopeful vision for the future of solar grazing. Jess also engages the next generation through 4-H youth education. Their efforts help others imagine new possibilities for rural revitalization.
Links to learn more about their work are below.
Solar Eco-Steward of the Year Finalists
Recognizing outstanding achievements and excellence in ecovoltaics.
The Solar Eco-Steward of the Year Award recognizes an extraordinary champion of ecosystem services who has achieved significant advancements integrating conservation, habitat restoration, pollination, carbon sequestration, soil regeneration, stormwater retention and/or other ecosystem services into symbiotic agrivoltaic systems in the field. This singular award celebrates those who have not only embraced the practice of agrivoltaics and successfully paired solar power generation with ecological function and environmental conservation, but who exemplify excellence in their efforts to enhance ecosystem services with solar energy and inspire growth in the field of ecovoltaics by their example.
Allison Wickham
Founder and Apiary Manager | Siller Pollinator Company, Virginia
Allison Wickham is the driving force behind Siller Pollinator Company, a Virginia-based business dedicated to helping people help pollinators. Since founding SPC in 2019, Allison has combined her scientific background and experience across agricultural industries to pioneer pollinator habitat management alongside solar projects. She leads a small but mighty team that designs diverse seed mixes, plans long-term plantings, and nurtures thriving bee populations on solar lands. Known affectionately by clients as "the bee lady," Allison’s approach blends scientific rigor with storytelling to connect communities with the vital role honeybees play in healthy ecosystems and agricultural production.
Under Allison’s guidance, Siller Pollinator Company not only improves habitat quality but also promotes economic sustainability by harvesting solar honey sold in her store, sharing the story of how solar land supports pollinators’ comeback. She teaches bee classes and engages at conferences and public meetings, inspiring others to follow her example. Driven by the belief that “we know it’s possible to make a living doing what’s right,” Allison shows what can be achieved when passion, expertise, and stewardship come together.
Explore more about her work and impact through the links below.
Argonne National Laboratory, Solar Soil Health Research Team
The Solar Soil Health team at Argonne National Laboratory is leading the charge in uncovering how solar energy and ecosystem health can work hand in hand. With more than a decade of experience in environmental modeling and renewable energy research, the team is helping the solar industry understand how land management choices can impact soil, ecosystems, and the environment. Their current project, Solar Soil, is a groundbreaking effort to establish best practices for measuring soil constituents and carbon cycling on solar sites—an essential step toward validating and enhancing the climate and ecological benefits of solar development.
Argonne’s work goes far beyond the lab. Their researchers have developed public tools for solar siting and energy infrastructure planning, while also mapping pollinator habitats and modeling how solar vegetation management can support broader environmental goals. Their science is equipping developers, operators, and policymakers with the data needed to design solar projects that enhance ecosystem services—protecting soil, supporting pollinators, and even sequestering carbon.
Driven by a spirit of stewardship and scientific rigor, the Argonne team is helping to make solar smarter, more sustainable, and more resilient. Their work illuminates the essential role of research in shaping a renewable energy future that restores the land as it powers our communities.
Learn more about their work at the links below.
Jessica Fox
Jessica Fox is a Sr. Technical Executive at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), where she leads efforts on water quality trading, ecosystem services, sustainability and related work. Jessica is a conservation biologist who published benchmark research on species credit trading (conservation banking) and related analysis of the Endangered Species Act in the early 2000’s and has been driving thought leadership in her fields ever since. Ms. Fox created and managed the EPRI Ohio River Basin Water Quality Trading Project, which was the world’s first interstate trading program for nutrients and became a model project in the U.S. She led the EPRI Water & Ecosystem $15M/yr research team from 2016-2019, including water quality, water quantity, watershed resiliency, fish protection programs. In 2018, Ms. Fox launched the EPRI Power-in-Pollinators Initiative, which is now the largest effort in North America for electric power companies to collaborate on pollinator conservation research and projects. Jessica also leads EPRI’s Energy Sustainability Interest Group, a collaborative forum for electric power company sustainability managers to strategically advance critical issues related to the sustainable generation and distribution of electricity, which includes over 40 electric utilities.
She has authored or coauthored over 40 reports and other publications and is well known for her thought leadership on environmental credit stacking, water quality trading, and species conservation banking. Jessica’s projects on ecosystem services focus on creating a business case for considering ecosystem services in day-to-day corporate decision making, including using models, cost benefit considerations, and executive perspectives.
A catalyzing force, Jessica is a trained meeting facilitator and conflict resolution mediator and hosted and facilitated numerous workshops. She is also a Certified Ecologist by the United States Ecological Society of America, and a Certified Habitat Steward by the National Wildlife Federation, and serves a vital role as an interdisciplinary professional able to interact with a wide variety of energy and environmental stakeholders and engage them substantively and meaningfully.
Dr. Mike Kiernan
Founder of Bee the Change | Vermont
After more than two decades as an emergency physician, Dr. Mike Kiernan retired from the ER with a deep sense that his work wasn’t finished. He turned his energy toward a different kind of healing—this time, of ecosystems. In 2015, Mike launched Bee the Change, a pollinator habitat initiative focused on transforming underutilized spaces in solar fields into thriving ecosystems for bees and other beneficial species.
Recognizing that many solar installations were planted with turf or gravel, Mike saw an opportunity to restore what he calls “moonscapes” into rich, life-giving environments. Starting with a single field in Middlebury, Bee the Change has since helped establish pollinator habitat on over 30 solar sites, from small 1-acre parcels to sprawling 50-acre projects, involving hundreds of local volunteers and backyard gardeners across Vermont.
Mike brings a scientist’s eye to the work. At one site, he documented a 5X increase in unique pollinator encounters after just one year, and a 10X increase by year three. These landscapes go on to nourish birds, fish, and people alike. Through his passion, rigor, and hopeful vision, Mike Kiernan is showing how solar can not only meet energy goals—but help ecosystems and communities thrive.
Walter Liebrich
Co-Founder of Fiddlehead Agrivoltaic Farms | Tallahassee, Florida
Walter Liebrich is a passionate advocate for combining renewable energy with sustainable agriculture through his work at Fiddlehead Agrivoltaic Farms. Alongside his partner Sharon, Walter manages a unique agrivoltaic project that grafts cultivated blueberries onto native sparkleberry bushes already thriving on their land. This approach preserves existing vegetation while creating a productive food system integrated with solar energy. Their farm also incorporates biochar applications to enhance soil health, sequester carbon, and increase water retention. Pollinators, particularly honey bees from their thriving apiary, play a crucial role in maintaining ecosystem balance and supporting crop yields.
Walter’s leadership extends beyond the farm. With a background in public policy and renewable energy advocacy, including helping shape Tallahassee’s 100% Clean Energy Plan, he bridges community needs and clean energy goals through strong public/private partnerships. Their project addresses regulatory challenges for small-scale solar and aims to provide fresh, nutritious produce to local food banks in an area impacted by food insecurity.
Walter believes that integrating renewable energy with regenerative farming can transform communities and ecosystems. His work inspires others by demonstrating how thoughtful solar development can nurture the land, support biodiversity, and serve local communities.
To learn more about Walter’s vision and impact, visit
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