MONTICELLO (Minnesota) — Silflower was a native plant that covered the vast North American prairie before settlers built cities and farms. The long-stemmed cousin to the sunflower, which is now confined to ditches and roadsides, may soon make a comeback thanks to solar energy.
Nine solar farms in Minneapolis are home to silflower, which is being grown by researchers to test its potential as an oil-seed crop. This perennial with deep roots provides forage for livestock as well as habitat for bees and butterflies.
Ebony Murrell, a crop scientist at The Land Institute, said that silflower’s impact on pollinators requires a lot of plots. The solar industry is interested to restore pollinator habitat. This partnership seemed like a good one.”
The sun is a renewable energy source that can be used to reduce the use of fossil fuels that cause greenhouse gasses. It could also benefit the economy in other ways that are not well-known.
Ithaca University, N.Y. Solar farms surround trees. Friday, September 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Heather Ainsworth).
Critics claim that solar arrays will spread across millions of acres (hectares), as the industry grows. This could lead to farmland being lost. Advocates see potential to diversify crop production, increase landowner income, and repair ecological damage to ground that has been plowed or paved over.
Brendan O’Neill, an environmental scientist at the University of Michigan, said that there are many places where solar could be integrated into really innovative uses of land. He’s currently monitoring how Cadillac’s new 1,752-panel facility, stores carbon.
Solar installations also house sheep, which reduce the need to mow. Researchers are also exploring the possibility of crop growth under solar panels.
LABS STUDY MIXED USES
The U.S. Department of Energy funds a search for the best land uses around solar farms. The InSPIRE project involves the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory, as well as other partners who conduct research at 25 locations across the country.
According to the Energy Information Administration, the United States has approximately 2,500 solar operations that are connected to the electric grid. Most of these generate one to five megawatts. For a five-megawatt facility to be operational, it would need 40 acres (16 ha). Although some installations are located on former industrial sites and take up space that was once used for row crops, larger ones often take up space previously used for other purposes.
Depending on how fast the country switches to renewable electricity by 2050, approximately 10 million acres (4,000,000 hectares) might be required for solar — more than the combined areas of New Jersey and Massachusetts, according to an analysis by Argonne.
Researchers and solar developers hope that projects with multiple uses for land will reduce opposition from rural residents who aren’t keen to see farmland go out of production, or view solar panels as a nuisance.
Jordan Macknick, InSPIRE’s lead analyst on renewable energy, stated that “we need healthy agricultural communities but we also require renewable energy.”
Sheep rest and graze at Cornell University’s solar farm in Ithaca, N.Y. Friday, September 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Heather Ainsworth
Niko Kochendoerfer, Cornell University researcher, takes care of a sheep while it grazes on a solar farm at Cornell University in Ithaca (N.Y.), Friday, September 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Heather Ainsworth
Niko Kochendoerfer, Cornell University researcher, stands among the sheep that are grazing on a Cornell University solar farm in Ithaca (N.Y.), Friday, September 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Heather Ainsworth
BUZZ AND FUZZ
Cascadilla Community Sun Farm is an upstate New York farm where sheep eat grasses while the solar panels are on. Bees and butterflies collect pollen from native plants.
Niko Kochendoerfer, a Cornell University researcher, says that initial data from her three year study has shown that light grazing is good for wildflowers and bees. It also keeps plants from being shaded. Rare bee species are starting to emerge.
Kochendoerfer and Lewis Fox, her partner, own about 400 sheep. Farmers can graze their sheep at solar sites for $300 to $550 annually. This increases farm income while sparing them from the costs of renting or purchasing pasture. She said that grazing is cheaper than traditional site management.
Fox has sheep at the solar sites in southern Pennsylvania and Vermont.
He said, “Certain seasons of the year… the sites will look like a butterfly-filled house in a Zoo — there are just butterflies everywhere.”
According to Lexie Hain (director of the American Solar Grazing Association, Fox’s business partner), sheep are now eating at solar farms in over 20 states. It is also occurring in Australia, the United Kingdom, Uruguay, and other parts of Europe.
Jack’s Solar Garden, Longmont, Colo. has solar panels that move with the sun. This provides both shade and sun for the vegetable garden below. (AP Video/Brittany Peterson)
VEGETABLES IN SOLAR SHADE
Jack’s Solar Farm is another example of solar and agriculture. It’s located in Longmont, Colorado. The farm’s 24 acres, or about 10 hectares, now house 3,276 solar panels that generate enough power to power 300 homes. They also grow tomatoes, squash and kale, as well as green beans.
Researchers compare vegetables grown under panels at six to eight feet (6-8 m) above the ground with those in open sun. The results were mixed in the recent initial season, but the shaded plants showed a longer growth season.
Byron Kominek, owner of the solar panel company, stated that they don’t need to leave the soils beneath them in their country untouched or untouched by weeds. “Elevating panels a bit higher provides agricultural jobs and an opportunity to do greater with the land,” owner Byron Kominek said.
Experts at the University of Arizona’s Biosphere 2 laboratory have found that “Agrivoltaics,” which is growing produce under panels, is particularly promising in hot and arid areas. They have also planted peppers and cherry tomatoes beneath them.
Amy Marble, a researcher, weighs the produce at Jack’s Solar Garden in Longmont, Colo., on September 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Brittany Peterson).
On Sept. 14, 2021 in Longmont, Colorado, crops grow under the solar panels of Jack’s Solar Garden. (AP Photo/Brittany Peterson).
According to team findings, these crops often outperform those grown in traditional environments. They also lose less water through evaporation when they are in less direct sunlight. This reduces irrigation demand. The plants also keep the panels cool, which increases performance.
It remains to be seen how widespread such farming will occur, according to Greg Barron-Gafford (a biogeography professor at Arizona). Large-scale agriculture will require mechanized harvesting and planting, which might prove difficult under panels.
Barron-Gafford stated that “the vast majority of farms in the country are small farms that have broken even or lost money”, and that leasing land to produce solar energy while still growing food might generate profits.
POLLINATOR HABITAT
Although commercial prospects for agrivoltaics remain unknown, scientists believe that solar grounds can be used to grow native grasses and flowers that attract pollinators. Many of these species are in danger of extinction.
Maggie Graham, an Oregon State University researcher, reported that bees and other insects visited plants partially or completely shaded by panels. They may also pollinate nearby crops, increasing yields.
A recent Argonne study found that solar sites with native pollinator-friendly vegetation could provide three times more habitat quality than farmland. It found that pollinator-friendly sites have nearly two-thirds the carbon storage potential of traditional farmland, and almost one-fifth less runoff. There would also be 95% less soil erosion.
Because plants for pollinators can be more costly than grass at many locations, some solar developers resist this idea. However, this is offset over time by lower maintenance, according to Reed Richerson chief operating officer at U.S. Solar, a Minneapolis developer.
Left: Pollinator habitat grows alongside solar panels at Jack’s Solar Garden in Longmont, Colo., September 14, 2021 (AP Photo/Brittany Peterson).
Walmart is attracted to the cause of saving butterflies and bees by its purchase of power from many pollinator-friendly U.S. Solar installations.
There are more than 12 states that have established standards or guidelines. These guidelines are based on quality such as ground cover diversity and density, as well the land involved.
“We wanted not to greenwash — planting a small patch of clover, petunias, and saying, ‘There’s my pollinator friendly contribution,'” stated Michael Noble, director at Fresh Energy in Minnesota, which helped create the standards.
As global warming and species loss accelerates, more nature-based solar gardens will be needed, stated Rob Davis, spokesperson for Connexus Energy.
He said that three years ago, one of the Minneapolis cooperative’s solar projects was at risk of being rejected by a suburban planning board. But supporters raised the pollinator benefits as well as their visual appeal.
Davis stated that the technology of solar energy was foreign and unfamiliar to him. “But everybody understands what a meadow looks like.”
