Solar Burgers: How agrivoltaics marries green energy food production

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CALGARY – Jason Bradley has spent 20 years of his career as a ranch manager on a 50,000-hectare ranch in west-central Alberta, so he understands why people react with skepticism to the idea of ​​raising a herd of cattle on a solar farm.

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“The first thing people think is, ‘You can’t put cows on (a solar farm).’ They will just rub the panels and smash them,” said Bradley.

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But as CEO of Calgary-based Sun Cycle Farms, Bradley believes the doubters have already been proven wrong. This fall, Sun Cycle is conducting a pilot project that grazes cattle inside a grid-connected solar farm in southern Alberta — something Bradley says proves that livestock production and renewable energy can coexist successfully.

“It wasn’t just about proving it to us – I knew it could be done in an existing solar system,” Bradley said.

“But we had to show the property owner, the insurance company, even the investors that they looked at this and showed that this is part of the solution.”

Sun Cycle Farms is an agrivoltaics company, part of a rapidly growing field that aims to integrate solar energy production with agricultural activities. Across North America, solar farm owners are increasingly sending sheep and pigs to their fields to keep weeds down and reduce the need to mow the panels.

Researchers around the world are also looking at what types of plants can be grown in and around solar panels.

Contrary to what you might expect, many plants actually do better when shaded by a large solar panel than under direct sunlight, says Joshua Pearce, a solar energy expert at Western University.

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“A lot of the plants we grow outside usually get a lot of sun,” says Pearce.

“Under the solar panel, or next to it, you’re almost like a small shelter. There is not so much wind, you don’t have to worry about hail, it also helps to retain water in the soil a little.”

Land use issues weren’t as serious when solar power first started a few decades ago because the nascent industry was so small.

But the rapid deployment of renewable energy in recent years means that the visible role of the sun can no longer be ignored. According to the Canadian Renewable Energy Association, there are 206 large-scale solar power projects across the country – some of which cover thousands of acres of land.

Due to the dramatic growth of this industry, some rural residents are frustrated by how quickly their surroundings, and the jobs being done on the land, are changing.

“If you are in a rural area that prides itself on farming and producing land, then suddenly you have big donors from outside your community buying large land and making it into solar parks, you can be good. I’m concerned and worried about it,” said Pearce.

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In Alberta, which has seen a dramatic increase in solar power across Canada in recent years, the provincial government recently introduced new regulations that prevent renewable energy installations from being built in prime agricultural land unless developers can prove their projects are viable. with livestock and crops.

“Renewable electricity is a double-edged sword because we need electricity generation in our state, but we also need to maintain the reputation of good agricultural land,” said Jeff Shaw, chief executive officer of the City of Cardston, which is now a partner. Sun Cycle Farms is an agrivoltaics demonstration project on the edge of a southern Alberta community.

“We (the city) would like to be integrated with the solution to that.”

Success in agrivoltaics often requires flexible thinking. Goats, for example, have been tested on solar farms but were not very successful due to their tendency to chew ropes.

In its cow demonstration project, Sun Cycle used an electric wire to train cows to stay away from solar panels. The company is also looking into the use of solar-powered columns – which would give cows a slight ‘ping’ as a deterrent if they get too close – and the use of robotic tractors to safely remove weeds and cut grass in the area. without damaging the panels.

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Although more research will need to be done before coexistence of cows and solar panels becomes commonplace, Pearce said these types of projects are key to ensuring the long-term sustainability of the renewable energy sector and the continued productivity of the agricultural sector.

“With agrivoltaics, everyone wins – the landowner, the farmers, the solar developers, the community, the power grid. That’s just a good idea,” he said, adding that there is still time before cows are fed where renewable energy is installed.

“We will have sun burgers. It will be really good.”

“This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Dec. 25, 2024.

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