Tag Archive for: AgriSolar Clearinghouse

CBS ‘Saturday Morning’ Features AgriSolar

CBS Saturday Morning featured NCAT’s AgriSolar Clearinghouse and one of the farmers who is partnering with an energy company to graze his sheep among their solar panels during a six-minute piece that aired nationwide.

Pairing farming with solar energy production offers many “stacked benefits,” according to CBS.

“This is going to be a game changer,” NCAT Energy Program Director Dr. Stacie Peterson told CBS. “This is taking off all across the country. We’re here to help you figure out what’s best for your area and connect you with the right people to help you do this if you want this on your farm or in your community.”

“We’re producing food, fiber, and energy all from the same acre of land,” said Solar Shepherd Founder Dan Finnegan. “It’s a smarter way to use this land.”

To learn more about agrisolar, or agrivoltaics, visit NCAT’s AgriSolar Clearinghouse.

NCAT Supports Bipartisan Effort to Expand AgriSolar Research

The National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) applauds Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Senator Mike Braun (R-IN) for introducing a bill that will expand research for agrivoltaics, or agrisolar, which pairs appropriate farmland with solar energy production.

“Expanding agrisolar is all about maximizing our resources to grow both food and renewable energy on the same piece of land, while at the same time diversifying revenue sources for farmers,” said NCAT Executive Director Steve Thompson. “NCAT’s AgriSolar Clearinghouse has spent the last two years working with farmers, land managers, and solar companies to harvest the sun twice. This bipartisan bill will allow us to take agrivoltaics to the next level in this country.”

Agrisolar or agrivoltaic partnerships are growing across solar-appropriate farmland in the U.S., providing a new revenue source for farmers, clean energy for surrounding communities, and myriad benefits to crops, livestock, and pollinators.

The Agrivoltaics Research and Demonstration Act of 2023 will direct $15 million to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the study of agrisolar systems to develop best practices for farmers, ranchers, solar developers, and communities who want to adopt or expand the use of agrivoltaics.

Supporters of the bill include NCAT, American Farmland Trust, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, and the American Solar Grazing Association, among others.

“We applaud Senator Heinrich and Senator Braun for their forward-thinking leadership in introducing this bill,” said Tim Fink, Policy Director for American Farmland Trust. “As the essential transition toward renewable energy accelerates across the country, it must be done in a way that strengthens rural communities and minimizes the footprint on our most productive farmland. This legislation would help advance the potential for agrivoltaics to do both.”  

NCAT’s AgriSolar Clearinghouse connects businesses, land managers, and researchers with trusted resources to support the growth of co-located solar and sustainable agriculture. The Clearinghouse includes an interactive atlas of agrisolar sites, funding opportunities and state-specific incentives, an information library with more than 500 peer-reviewed articles, multimedia tools like photos, podcasts, and videos, and one-on-one technical assistance for farmers and solar developers.

WATCH: AgriSolar Partnerships Bloom in Minnesota

Minnesota energy companies, solar developers, farmers, and chefs are partnering in innovative ways to grow food, renewable energy, and pollinator habitat all within the same piece of land. The National Center for Appropriate Technology’s (NCAT) AgriSolar Clearinghouse today released its short film “Dive into the Prairie,” which takes viewers on a short tour of Minnesota’s agrivoltaic success stories.

AgriSolar or agrivoltaic partnerships are growing across solar-appropriate farmland in the U.S., providing a new revenue source for farmers, clean energy for surrounding communities, and myriad benefits to crops, livestock, and pollinators.

Chef Mateo Mackbee uses solar-grown foods at his St. Joseph, Minn., restaurant. Everything from salad greens grown under or around solar panels, to the honey that sweetens his salad dressing.

“Agrivoltaics is a big thing for me to see what can be grown, grazed, or raised in and around solar arrays,” said Chef Mackbee. “AgriSolar is the future, for sure.”

Mackbee sources solar-grown honey from Bare Honey, which partners with energy companies and solar developers to place his commercial beekeeping boxes on the same land as the solar panels and pollinator habitat.

“Pollination is a huge part of what commercial beekeeping is,” said Bare Honey founder Dustin Vanasse. “We have our co-located honeybees and those, combined with the native pollinators on these sites, will provide pollination to the farms that are around the site.”

NCAT’s AgriSolar Clearinghouse is connecting businesses, land managers, and researchers with trusted resources to support the growth of co-located solar and sustainable agriculture.

“The partnerships blossoming in Minnesota show a real-world example of how it can work for several industries that share common goals,” said NCAT Energy Director Stacie Peterson, PhD. “Land is finite, and AgriSolar partnerships mean we can maximize our resources for the benefit of communities, the environment, and businesses.”

Learn How Massachusetts Farmers Harvest the Sun Twice During the AgriSolar Clearinghouse ‘Follow the Sun’ Tour

The AgriSolar Clearinghouse, developed by the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) is bringing its Follow the Sun tour to three dual-use farms in Massachusetts on August 10. Follow the Sun is a series of hands-on field trips to see firsthand the benefits of co-locating sustainable agriculture and solar energy. The Massachusetts tour includes visits to the University of Massachusetts Amherst South Deerfield research site, the Million Little Sunbeams family farm in Monson, and Grafton Solar in Grafton.

“AgriSolar allows us to harvest the sun twice. As America’s appetite for sustainably grown products and renewable energy continues to increase, agrisolar has the potential to provide both resources,” says NCAT Energy Program Director Dr. Stacie Peterson. “The research underway in Massachusetts combined with the working farms already using their land to produce food and energy provide us with a tremendous learning opportunity and hands-on experience for farmers to see how they might diversify their businesses with solar.”

Join Peterson, UMass researchers, and family farmers who are leading the way on growing crops beneath renewable-energy-producing solar arrays. Knowlton Farms in Grafton is using 13 acres to produce 6.2 megawatts of clean energy, avoiding nearly 6,200 tons of carbon emissions a year. At the UMASS South Deerfield demonstration farm, researchers are looking at the social, economic, and agricultural productivity impacts of pairing solar and farming.

“With support from the U.S. Department of Energy, the UMass Clean Energy Extension and university colleagues in the Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment and Resource Economics are researching the impacts of agrivoltaics on agricultural productivity and the farm economy,” says Dwayne Breger, Director, UMass Clean Energy Extension. “We are excited to build on the research at our experimental station with site trials embedded in commercial “dual-use” solar installations to bring more data and understanding across a broader range of agriculture of this technology and its role in agriculture and our renewable energy future.”

NCAT created the nation’s first AgriSolar Clearinghouse to connect farmers, ranchers, land managers, solar developers, and researchers with trusted, practical information to increase the appropriate co-location of solar and agriculture. It’s funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. The AgriSolar Clearinghouse features a library of more than 400 peer-reviewed articles, a media hub featuring videos, podcasts, and relevant news, and a user forum to directly connect people interested in agrivoltaic development in real-time. Partner organizations include leading universities, the Smithsonian, sustainable agriculture and energy advocates, the Center for Rural Affairs, and the national energy laboratories.

The benefits of co-locating solar with appropriate agricultural land include producing food, conserving ecosystems, creating renewable energy, increasing pollinator habitat, and maximizing farm revenue.

The AgriSolar Clearinghouse’s free Follow the Sun Tour will stop at about a dozen agrivoltaic sites over the next two years. Future field trips will include visits to sites in Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, New York and more. Sign up for the AgriSolar Extra to be sure you know about upcoming Follow the Sun Tour stops.

Project Promotes Solar Energy for Ag Land

The National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) will launch an online information clearinghouse in 2021 to promote solar-energy development on agricultural lands while protecting — and even improving — those lands’ agricultural capacity.

NCAT was selected for a $1.6 million cooperative agreement from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop the Agri-Solar Clearinghouse (ASC), a national information hub and professional network that connects researchers, technology companies, solar developers, landowners, farmers and consumers.

“Federal energy planners estimate that utility-scale solar installations could cover almost 2 million acres of land in the United States by 2030,” said Stacie Peterson, Ph.D., director of NCAT’s energy programs.

“Under traditional solar development, these lands could be taken over for energy-only production and this could lead to negative impacts on food production,” Peterson said. “However, there is tremendous opportunity for low-impact solar development that is complementary with sustainable agriculture, increasing pollinator habitat, improving soil health,  and  promoting native species, all while diversifying revenue streams for both agricultural and solar operations.”

“NCAT’s decades of experience in sustainable energy and agriculture will enable the group to work as an honest broker of co-location information,” said Peterson.

“Together, with our incredible network of partners, we hope to help promote the co-location of solar and agriculture in a way that is beneficial to both throughout the United States and territories.”

National Renewable Energy Laboratory researchers Jordan Macknick and Paul Torcelini along with UMass professor Stephen Herbert survey the test plot at the UMass Crop Animal Research and Education Center in South Deerfield, MA.
— Photo by Dennis Schroeder, NREL 53126

ASC will showcase and develop practical, affordable solar-energy solutions through research, success stories, case studies, and multi-media outreach. The project will also connect participants through an online forum, mailing list, workshops and farm tours to facilitate peer-to-peer exchanges and mentoring.

ASC also will have databases that help locate financial and technical assistance, as well as identify best practices, explain regulatory issues and provide policy information.

The Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) of the U.S. Department of Energy will provide a three-year, $1.6 million cooperative agreement to help fund the project. The total budget of the project for three years is $2,030,000.

NCAT has a number of partners in the project, including Argonne National Laboratory, Bozeman Green Build, Breezy Point Energy, Center for Rural Affairs, Fresh Energy Center for Pollinators in Energy, George Washington University, Helical Solar Solutions, Montana Renewable Energy Association, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Renewable Northwest, Ridge to Reefs, Seeta Sistla, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Virginia Working Landscapes, and Wexus Technologies.

ASC is expected go live in the summer of 2021.

The SETO program provided a total of $130 million in fiscal year 2020 for projects that improve the affordability, reliability, and value of solar technologies on the U.S. power grid.

NCAT’s project is one of four that focus on siting solar-energy systems in agricultural settings. The four projects were funded at a total of $7 million. Their aim is to help farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural enterprises gain value from solar technologies while keeping land available for agricultural purposes.

NCAT is a national nonprofit, founded in 1976, with a mission of helping people build resilient communities through local and sustainable solutions that reduce poverty, strengthen self-reliance, and protect natural resources.

It is headquartered in Butte, Mont., and has five regional offices around the country.

NCAT’s team of 35 sustainable agriculture specialists and energy engineers, along with its partners, will develop the clearinghouse. NCAT will develop alternate funding streams to ensure ASC will continue after the three-year funding period.