Farmers can benefit from solar energy in several ways—by leasing farmland for solar; installing a solar system on a house, barn, or other building; or through agrivoltaics. NREL researcher Jordan Macknick works with teams from University of Massachusetts (UMass) Clean Energy Extension and Hyperion on a photovoltaic dual-use research project at the UMass Crop Animal Research and Education Center in South Deerfield, MA. Photo by Dennis Schroeder / NREL. The project is. Solar power installation on agricultural land involves setting up photovoltaic (PV) panels or solar infrastructure either alongside crop production or on underutilized sections of farmland to generate clean electricity. Often known as agrivoltaics, this can help farmers reduce their carbon footprint while continuing to produce food. As of the end of 2022, less than 2% of solar energy projects are on agricul r panels can increase your operation's. While solar installations are not the primary drivers of land-use change in rural areas—low-density development has far outpaced solar utility land use—they have nonetheless attracted significant attention due to their visual prominence on agricultural land, leading to policy responses in some. In addition, regulatory improvements, such as the scrapping of the EEG levy in Germany, are spurring farmers' interest in decentralized photovoltaic installations, because the combination of PV and energy storage systems has become more lucrative and worth-while. Increased self-consumption of solar.
