indiana Prairie Farmer Logo

Could you grow crops and harvest the sun in the same field?

Darrell Boone

February 25, 2022

3 Min Read
cornfield underneath solar panels
CORN AND SOLAR? Purdue University ag researchers began experimenting with solar panel configurations that might still allow farmers to grow corn nearly three years ago. Tom J. Bechman

Solar farms are springing up across the Midwest. So are a variety of university research projects. All seek to answer these questions: “Are solar farms and agriculture compatible? If so, are agricultural ventures being tried among solar farms economically viable?”

The University of Illinois received a $10 million grant from USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture Sustainable Agricultural Systems program in 2021 to study agrivoltaics in a variety of land types and climate scenarios, including Illinois, Colorado and Arizona. The term “agrivoltaics” stems from combining “agriculture” and “photovoltaics.” The term “photovoltaics” refers to capturing solar energy and turning it into electricity.

Related: Combining solar with other uses could change picture

Meanwhile, Oregon State University is doing research on grazing sheep among solar panels. The findings thus far are promising. Overall financial returns from sheep grazed in a solar farm were similar to those grazed in open pastures, and the sheep benefited from the shade of the solar panels.

Researchers indicate that interest in the project stemmed from the fact that some producers in the area were already grazing sheep among solar panels. The grazing trial concluded that sheep performed about as well grazing in fields with solar panels as in fields without them.

Solar and corn together?

At Purdue University, research is underway to explore the viability of growing corn and soybeans among solar panels. This research began in earnest in 2019 when solar panels were erected in a research plot at the Purdue Agronomy Center for Research and Education near West Lafayette, Ind. The panels were installed at higher heights than normal solar panel installations, allowing corn to grow underneath.

Mitch Tuinstra, professor of agronomy, one of the primary researchers on the project, says Purdue engineers and agronomists have teamed up to determine if this approach is viable.

“If we’re going to try to meet our renewable energy goals, it is going to take 2% to 3% of our land to achieve that goal by 2100, yet if we’re going to have to feed 10 billion people, we might be more concerned about food production,” he says. “Our question is, how do we design a system to optimize both the agronomic crops being produced, as well as optimizing the electricity produced?”

Currently, factors being researched include designing a solar array so a 30-foot planter or combine head can maneuver through the rows of panels and adjusting the solar-tracking patterns of panels to allow maximum light at peak times for better crop production.

Researchers are also looking at different types of solar panel materials, to possibly effectively “split” sunlight, so more of the type of sunlight plants use gets to the crops. At the same time, panels would need to harvest the type of sunlight that produces electricity.

Tuinstra says results thus far are promising. “We’ve learned that you can clearly grow corn and soybeans among solar panels,” he says. “The question we’re still working on is how do you optimize productivity in those environments? We don’t know the answer to that yet.”

Asked about this concept at meetings, some solar industry experts were cool to the idea. They fear raising panels higher could significantly increase costs. Solutions must also factor in economics for solar installations for the option to become viable.

Boone writes from Wabash, Ind. Tom J. Bechman contributed to this story.

Read more about:

Solar

About the Author(s)

Darrell Boone

Darrell Boone writes from Wabash, Ind.

Subscribe to receive top agriculture news
Be informed daily with these free e-newsletters

You May Also Like