Can Land Conservation and Dual-Use Solar on Farms Coexist?
One alternative to slashing forests, of course, is building on farmland. For years, Massachusetts farmers have been getting a ridiculous number of calls from solar developers, said Nick dArbeloff, vice president of commercial development at SunBug Solar. But most of those calls were about taking one field (or many) out of production to build ground-mount systems, which are the cheapest option. (Farmers in the state and around the country have also increasingly been putting solar panels on barn roofs and marginal lands theyre not using to grow food.) And while commercial agrivoltaic systems are already in operation in other countries, the use of the technology is still new in the U.S. In addition to Massachusetts, the Department of Energy is also testing the systems in use in Arizona and Oregon. But, so far, updates made to the Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) program in 2020 have pushed development toward agrivoltaics in the most significant way. The program only allows solar development on agricultural land if the systems are dual-use, requires panels be raised at least 10 feet above ground, shading to cover no more than 50 percent of the field, and provides additional financial incentives to developers that build the systems. The incentive is key because ground-mounted systems are both cheaper to build and produce more energy per acre, which the owner of the system is paid for sending to the electric grid. Usually the owner of the system (a developer or outside entity) pays the farmer for the use of the land; dArbeloff at SunBug said that rate is typically between $15,000 to $20,000 per megawatt annually. A megawatt might require five acres using ground-mount but eight or nine in a dual-use system. So by paying more for dual-use installations, the state is essentially making up the difference. Since the changes, eight dual-use projects have applied to participate in the program, with one up and running, six approved for construction, and many others expected. While the projects are commercial, many will also likely serve as study sites for a research project proposed by University of Massachusettss Clean Energy Extension, which has been studying dual-use systems at its own facilities for about a decade. Now, the team will be able to track how various types of agriculture fare under solar panelsfrom grazing animals to cranberry bogs and vegetable crops like squashand collect real data on whether farmers and the environment benefit. That data could inform future conversations about land-use tradeoffs, said Dwayne Breger, a professor at UMass who is leading the effort. So far, studies show some crops, like lettuce and blackberries, fare well in the shade and may even benefit, especially in hotter regions; other crops, like broccoli, kale, and peppers, show reduced yields. Grazing sheep or cattle is the most common and well-established practice with dual-use panels. Less energy is also produced per acre versus building ground-mounted panels, but Breger thinks the evidence so far still shows a net win. The sum of the benefits to agriculture, even if yields are reduced . . . is still greater than could be achieved if you had all solar or all agriculture on that land, Breger said. And there would also be some synergies there.  SunBug completed the first dual-use project within the SMART program on farmland owned by Nate Tassinari in Monson, Massachusetts. Tassinari is a banker and self-proclaimed wannabe farmer who lives on land that was farmed by his family for three generations. He put his solar installation on a one-acre hayfield, where his cousins, who farm right next door, grow feed for their dairy cows.