Written by: Kéa Anderson
Edited by: Sunny Bell
In a world with increasing population, energy consumption, and food production, the scramble for viable land is a growing challenge. How do we choose what to do with the land we have left? With increasing arable land scarcity, sustainable simultaneous land use is a necessity.
Agrivoltaics is the dual use of land for solar energy production and agricultural practices. This pitches a solution to many of our land use problems, allowing for the maximization of land allocated to solar fields while promoting local biodiversity, soil and crop productivity, and conservation opportunities.
With the growing movement for a renewable energy transition, global bee populations have taken a nosedive. This is due to the increased usage of agricultural pesticides and the degradation of native pollinator habitats, among other factors. Solar beekeeping, a feature of agrivoltaics, involves placing beehives on or near solar fields, as well as cultivating the land around solar panels to promote pollinator health and activity. The planting of native vegetation—perennial ground cover, wildflowers, and clovers, to name a few—can have tremendous benefits on native pollinators, bees, insects, and local wildlife. While solar farms harvest sustainable and renewable energy for human consumption purposes, the land surrounding them harvests energy for pollinators and provides refuge for native species.
The benefits of agrivoltaics are not limited to pollinator populations but extend to the entire surrounding environment. Native ground cover planted beneath the solar panels improves the health of the soil, increasing soil porosity, water filtration, nitrogen content, nutrients, and organic matter. This creates productive habitats for soil microbes, bacteria, fungi, and insects, further building healthy topsoil, a much-needed commodity. This perennial vegetation helps to control water runoff and soil erosion and reduces stormwater flow by as much as 57% (Center for Rural Affairs, 2022). This is essential to minimizing damages during flood events that are becoming more common due to climate change.
In south-central Minnesota, over 900 acres spread between 16 sites offer pollinator-friendly solar energy farms featuring flowering plants, meadows, and honeybee hives (Davis, 2024). Managed by Minnesota Native Landscapes (MNL), these agrivoltaic fields have not only increased crop yields by promoting pollinator and soil health, but have implemented sustainable growth-management systems on this land. To control vegetative and crop growth—so as not to interfere with solar panels—farms host annual sheep grazings. Sheep promote soil health through soil aeration, compaction of seeds into the ground, and fertilization, and are safer than a mechanical mower as they do not pose a threat of damage to solar panels.
Regarding groundcover startup, MNL found that though turf-seeding mix costs about the same as a perennial pollinator mix, long-run expenses are much higher for the former. It is estimated that developers spend three times as much on turf maintenance than perennial ground cover over two decades, making agrivoltaics the less expensive choice (Davis, 2024). Additionally, MNL has made partnerships with beekeeping cooperatives and honey farmers, selling their solar-produced honey to restaurants and distilleries, thereby increasing income and supporting local establishments. Economically and environmentally speaking, Minnesota has seen every benefit of sustainable simultaneous land use.
The conscious design of solar fields to bring energy production and environmental support together is gaining popularity in today’s industrializing world, and for good reason. The recent push for a global transition to green energy can be paired with efforts to support local pollinators, wildlife, and soil productivity, in many cases decreasing maintenance and management costs of solar fields. These efforts have tremendous benefits to the health of local environments, concurrently increasing crop yields in agriculture-oriented setups due to improved soil health. Agrivoltaics and the green energy movement reinforce each other, setting the scene for a necessary transition to efficient and sustainable land use in our changing world.
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References:
Davis, R. (2021, May 24). Case Study: 907 acres of pollinator-friendly solar - Fresh Energy. Fresh Energy. https://fresh-energy.org/case-study-900-acres-of-pollinator-friendly-solar
Davis, R. (2021, June 25). Global buzz for solar with pollinators and beekeeping. Fresh Energy. https://fresh-energy.org/solar-beekeeping-goes-global
Agrivoltaics: Solar and Agriculture Co-Location. (n.d.). Energy.gov. https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/agrivoltaics-solar-and-agriculture-co-location
Fact Sheet: Making the Case for Solar Beekeeping Photo Courtesy of Center for Pollinators in Energy Written for the AgriSolar Clearinghouse by Center for Rural Affairs. (n.d.). https://www.cfra.org/sites/default/files/publications/FactSheet_Making-the-case-for-solar-beekeeping%20WEB.pdf
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