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By 2030, 50% of the electricity in Maryland will need to come from renewable sources, such as solar. Other states have similar mandates. Solar panels capture sunlight and turn it into electricity. The panels can be mounted on rooftops or ground-mounted, which is common for larger systems. One of the biggest criticisms of solar is the loss of farmland or other valued lands. Another complaint is how the vegetation under and around the panels is maintained, usually with mowing and spraying, which seems contradictory to clean energy. Still others do not like how the arrays disrupt rural landscapes. The obvious solution is to combine solar with agricultural production â called agrovoltaics. While solar may eventually be compatible with many more types of agriculture, sheep are currently the favored enterprise. Sheep are economical and eco-friendly lawn mowers and weed eaters. They fit under the panels. They donât block sunshine. They donât usually damage the infrastructure.
By 2030, 50% of the electricity in Maryland will need to come from renewable sources, such as solar. Other states have similar mandates. Solar panels capture sunlight and turn it into electricity. The panels can be mounted on rooftops or ground-mounted, which is common for larger systems. One of the biggest criticisms of solar is the loss of farmland or other valued lands. Another complaint is how the vegetation under and around the panels is maintained, usually with mowing and spraying, which seems contradictory to clean energy. Still others do not like how the arrays disrupt rural landscapes. The obvious solution is to combine solar with agricultural production â called agrovoltaics. While solar may eventually be compatible with many more types of agriculture, sheep are currently the favored enterprise. Sheep are economical and eco-friendly lawn mowers and weed eaters. They fit under the panels. They donât block sunshine. They donât usually damage the infrastructure.
Everybody has a favorite topic to bring up at parties when someone who knows them only vaguely and can’t remember what line of work they’re in seeks clues by asking, “So what have you been up to lately?”
“Advocating for offshore wind!” I used to respond brightly, which is why I wasn’t that popular at parties even before the pandemic.
But I got my longed-for turbines when Virginia Governor Ralph Northam and Dominion Energy committed to developing 2,600 megawatts of offshore wind by the middle of this decade.
So now I’m campaigning for another cutting-edge technology, or rather, for a cutting-edge combination of otherwise familiar technologies. I’m talking about agrivoltaics. For those of you not in the know, agrivoltaics refers to using land for solar panels and farming purposes at the same time. The “construction footprint” of solar that is, the amount of land at a solar facility that is taken up by infrastructure and can’t be used for anything else is less
Virginia Mercury
The more a solar facility looks and operates like an agricultural use, the easier it will be to integrate it into the rural landscape, writes Ivy Main. (Photo courtesy Furman University)
Everybody has a favorite topic to bring up at parties when someone who knows them only vaguely and can’t remember what line of work they’re in seeks clues by asking, “So what have you been up to lately?”
“Advocating for offshore wind!” I used to respond brightly, which is why I wasn’t that popular at parties even before the pandemic.
But I got my longed-for turbines when Virginia Governor Ralph Northam and Dominion Energy committed to developing 2,600 megawatts of offshore wind by the middle of this decade.