New Research Looks at Pairing Solar Energy and Farms

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A new research project led by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is looking at the best ways to couple crops with solar panels in a variety of settings.

While the Biden administration has placed an emphasis on growing renewable energy production across the U.S., some long-standing challenges remain, including locating the necessary infrastructures close to where resources are abundant, easily distributed or, ideally, both.

The university research, which is being supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, is seeking to identify options where renewable energy production and agriculture can complement each other rather than compete for precious acreage.

“Co-locating photovoltaic systems within productive pasture and crop land — aptly named agrivoltaic systems — not only provides potential economic benefit but could go a long way toward mitigating barriers to acceptance of photovoltaics for agriculture,” said Steven J. Thomson, national program leader, in an interview by Margaret Lawrence on the federal agency’s website.

Other partners on the project, which bears the unwieldy name “Sustainably Co-locating Agricultural and Photovoltaic Electricity Systems” project or SCAPES, include researchers at the University of Arizona, Colorado State University, Auburn University, the University of Illinois Chicago and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. 

Together, their goal is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the potential of so-called “agrivoltaics.” 

Success will be measured by their ability to maintain or increase crop yield; increase the combined (food and electricity) productivity of land; and diversify and increase farm profitability with diverse crops (row crops, forage and specialty crops) across three biophysically diverse regions in the United States: rainfed Illinois, dryland Colorado and irrigated Arizona. 

The project will couple field experiments across three states with farm-scale economic analysis, farmer survey and a system modeling approach to extrapolate not only production outcomes but economic outcomes as well. 

Additionally, the project’s economic and extension teams are examining strategies to overcome adoption barriers for agrivoltaics.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @DanMcCue