Chiktopia: Solar Grazing with Automated Chicken Coops
By Allen Puckett, NCAT Technical Writer
August 2023
In Ballground, Georgia, Jeffrey Whitmire and Chris Ayers, owners and operators of Chiktopia, are making use of an innovative solar technology that allows them to automate…
Battlefield Lavender Farm: Solar Powered Processing
By Chris Lent, NCAT Agriculture Specialist
The concept of agrisolar—the use of land for solar electric and agricultural production—is becoming a popular idea. It captivates the imagination to think of the many ways we can use a limited land base to produce...
Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill Solar Grazing in Kentucky
By Allen Puckett, NCAT Technical Writer
In Harrodsburg, Kentucky, a flock of sheep is successfully grazing on a solar array at the E.W. Brown Farm, thanks to a collaboration between Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill and LG&E. This operation…
Case Study: Winston Cone Optics and Dairy Processing
Winston Cone Optics’ installed pilot system on the roof of a dairy barn in California.
By Anna Richmond-Mueller, NCAT Energy Analyst
Thanks to the increase of solar photovoltaic sites in recent years, agrivoltaics has started to…
Solar Shepherd in Massachusetts: Solar Grazing
By Allen Puckett, NCAT Technical Writer
July 2023
The Solar Shepherd provides grazing services in Brookfield, Massachusetts, with 75 sheep that graze a solar array site owned by SWEB Development, a European clean energy firm.…
Growing Green Brings Agrivoltaics to Community Gardens in Arizona
Written for the AgriSolar Clearinghouse by Sarah Bendok, Growing Green
I am a rising sophomore at Phoenix Country Day School. Since I was young, I have always loved gardening. Every summer, I visit my grandma's village and work…
Fact Sheet: The Economics of Solar Grazing
Solar grazing is on the rise in the United States with dozens of new operations springing up across the country. However, with all of this growth in mind, an important question remains: if a grazier wants to enter the solar grazing market,…
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…
Maces Pond: Agrisolar Wild Blueberries
By Chris Lent, NCAT Agriculture Specialist
Not far from the town of Rockport, Maine, Paul Sweetland of Sweetland Farms, LLC has been tending wild blueberries since he was a young boy. On one field that he has been farming since the late 1990s,…
Case Study: Boulder Housing Partners Triangle Solar Array
The Boulder Housing Partners Triangle Solar Array is one of the first solar arrays in the Boulder, Colorado, area that is solely dedicated to offsetting energy use for low-income residents. The array is a south-facing fixed array with the leading edge of the solar panels about two feet off the ground. Construction was completed in 2021, and the array will generate over 19 GWh of solar energy in the next 10 years.
Reducing Post-Harvest Losses Through the Use of Innovative Solar-Powered Refrigeration Systems
Written for the AgriSolar Clearinghouse by Ridge to Reefs staff Emma Verlinden, Paul Sturm, and Phal Mantha
In 2017, the devastation following Hurricane Maria was catastrophic for countless coastal communities. The archipelago of Puerto…