Agricultural solar photovoltaic installers

What is agrivoltaics?

Most large, ground‐mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) systems are installed on land used only for solar energy production. It’s possible to co-locate solar and agriculture on the same land, which could provide benefits to both the solar and agricultural industries.

What is agrivoltaics research?

Learn more about soft costs research, other solar energy research in SETO, and current and former funding programs. Agrivoltaics, or the practice of solar agriculture co-location, is defined as agricultural production underneath or adjacent to solar panels, such as crops, livestock, and pollinators.

Could agrivoltaics be a solution?

Combining agriculture and solar on the same piece of land might be a solution, which is why DOE is funding $15 million in research on how agrivoltaics could work for farmers, the solar industry, and communities. Agrivoltaics is still a nascent business model.

What is agrivoltaics and how can it benefit the solar industry?

For the solar industry, agrivoltaics has the potential to facilitate siting of solar installations, improve solar PV panel performance by cooling the panels, and lower operations and maintenance costs by limiting the need for mowing.

Can agriculture and solar farms work together?

But there is a way for agriculture and solar farms to exist in a mutually beneficial balance: agrivoltaics. Agrivoltaics, or agrophotovoltaics or agrisolar, involves using the same plot of land for agriculture and solar energy production. With agrivoltaics, farmers don’t have to give up traditional farm life to reap the benefits of solar panels.

Does Agrivoltaics work on a farm?

While agrivoltaics works with many different types of farms, it's not for everyone. If your crops require large equipment to fit between the solar panel systems, you may need to limit your arrays to certain areas on your farm, which may or may not be a viable option.