Have you ever heard of a Solar Garden? Well today, Think Greener will shine our sustainable spotlight on Agrivoltaics. Pairing solar panels with farmland is a no brainer and is a glimpse into our future!
It is my pleasure to introduce Jack’s Solar Garden, a 24-acre family farm located in Colorado. The farm transformed from traditional farming, growing wheat as a cash crop and hay to feed their cattle. It is the nation’s largest commercially agrivoltaics research system and vegetation growth under solar panels.
This scalable, sustainable practice helps reduce the impact farming has on our natural resources. Farming is extremely energy intensive and creates about one third of greenhouse gas emissions and account for 85% of global water consumption. Some of the benefits of agrivoltaics includes reduction of water needed to grow crops by creating cooler microclimates underneath the solar panels and creation of healthy soil that sequesters carbon while improving stormwater management! Let’s not forget about the renewable energy generated from the solar array above!
Jack’s Solar Farm is a great example of a local project working with their community, local institutions, city, and state. Additionally, they work directly with local school districts and community groups to educate and promote clean energy, locally grown food, and responsible land use management!
Here is the link to the article that provides further details about Jack’s Farm and Agrivoltaics.