Over its 150-year history, Paul Knowlton’s farm in Grafton, Mass., has produced vegetables, dairy products and, most recently, hay. The growth of farm use has changed the market and changed the climate. Recently, however, Mr. Knowlton added a new crop: solar power.
For Mr. Knowlton, a fifth-generation farmer and current owner, it was an easy call. He installed solar panels to power his home and barn. When a real estate agent came knocking to see if he wanted to rent out a small portion of his land for a solar array, “she planted the seed so I could do more,” Mr. Knowlton said.
Mr. Knowlton reviewed several companies but was most impressed with BlueWave Solar, a Boston-based developer focused primarily on solar installations and battery storage, allowing excess electricity to be fed into the grid. Before long, two small plots of mostly unused land became places to place solar panels low from the ground to produce electricity. This year, Mr. Knowlton’s farm is going one step further: In the third plot, the solar panels will share space with the crops for both to grow.
This approach is known as agro-electricity – a portmanteau of agriculture and voltage cell, which converts solar energy into electrical energy. Also known as dual-use solar, this technology involves adjusting the height of solar panels up to 14 feet, as well as adjusting the spacing between them to accommodate equipment, workers , plants and herbivores. The spacing and angle of the panels allows light to reach the plants below and has the added benefit of shielding those plants from extreme temperatures.
The generated electricity is uploaded to the grid, usually through nearby substations. While some sources of electricity may find their way to the host farm, the projects are designed to provide electricity for general use. And such solar installations provide an alternative source of income in the form of payments to landowners like Mr. Knowlton or reduced rental payments to tenant farmers.
BlueWave has focused mainly on designing projects, then selling them to companies that build and oversee them. Take for example the Grafton project on Mr. Knowlton’s farm, which is now owned by the AES Corporation, an energy company.
John DeVillars, one of the three co-founders of BlueWave and chairman of the board, said: “Agriculture is not only driving the demand for clean energy, but it is also critical to keeping farms running.
Dual-use solar power gained traction over a decade ago because “a big installation in the middle of nowhere won’t solve all of our energy problems – transporting that energy.” can be very expensive,” said Greg Barron-Gafford, a biogeographer and an assistant professor at the University of Arizona. Farms in many parts of the country are located in peri-urban areas, areas of transition from rural to urban land. The location near high-use urban areas makes open farmland particularly suitable for solar arrays, but in the past, without any co-existing agriculture, that layout has conflict over whether food or energy production should prevail.
In research by AgriSolar Clearhouse, a new partnership that connects farmers and other landowners with agro-electric technology, the installation has also been shown to promote growth by protecting crops from rising temperatures and support water conservation. Although the technology is still in its infancy in the United States compared with countries in Europe, where the technology has been in use for more than a decade, federal regulators as well as academics and developers are working to correct that disparity.
Garrett Nilsen, acting director of the US Department of Energy’s Office of Solar Technology, says the initial results are promising. “There was a project in Arizona where they saw a threefold increase in crop yields under this type of system and a 50% reduction in irrigation needs,” he said, because the panels provide shade. . Additionally, plants grown beneath the panels release water into the air, cooling the modules, creating what Nelson describes as a “symbiotic relationship between plants and panels.”
BlueWave’s first project to go live was a 10-acre farm in Rockport, Maine – now owned and operated by Navisun, a solar energy producer. Wild blueberries, planted under solar panels, will generate 4.2 megawatts of electricity; The project is estimated to produce 5,468 megawatt-hours annually – equivalent to the amount of electricity needed for about 500 US homes.
Unlike Massachusetts, Maine doesn’t offer significant incentives for solar, so there’s a 10 to 15 percent premium when compared to similar projects, which BlueWave absorbed, Mr. DeVillars said. (That practice is consistent with the company’s status as a so-called B-Corporationrequires commitment to social and environmental goals.)
On May 12, Axium Infrastructure, an investment management company, announced the acquisition of BlueWave. Trevor Hardy will remain chief executive officer and Eric Graber-Lopez will continue to serve as chairman, while Mr DeVillars will become emeritus chairman.
Mr. Hardy said that the purchase will allow BlueWave to expand so it is owned and operated, not just developing, installing solar and storing batteries. Ultimately, he said, the purchase “puts us in a stronger position for dual use.”
He continued: “Farmers work for the long haul. “It’s more appealing to drive up the farm roads and sit with the owners at their kitchen table and say we develop, own and operate the installation.” And the potential of this technology goes far beyond blueberries; Agricultural uses include vineyards and shrimp farming.
BlueWave is not the only developer of farm electricity. Follow Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, based in Germany, five megawatts of electricity were produced through these systems in 2012; By 2021, 14 gigawatts of electricity will be generated in dual-use systems — roughly equivalent to the amount of electricity needed by about two million American homes annually, according to a spokesperson for the Department of Energy’s Office of Technology. And technology is evolving rapidly; For example, in the few years since it was installed on Mr. Knowlton’s farm, adjustable panels that can move to maximize sunlight capture have been developed.
Mr Hardy, who grew up in a farming family in South Africa, said: “It doesn’t always pay to be a pioneer and sometimes it is very challenging. Finding the right location – where there is enough sun and near a substation or other electrical infrastructure – can be difficult. Opposition from neighbors, especially where the sign can be seen from other homes or even on the street, is not uncommon.
Indeed, BlueWave is one of several defendants named in a lawsuit over a proposed scheme for farm electricity in Northfield, Mass. A state court recently ruled that the neighbor stood to challenge the proposed development. One of the plaintiffs, Christopher Kalinowski, said that among his concerns was that his views would be hindered and that “the area would lose arable land”. (Mr Hardy declined to comment on the litigation.)
Additionally, several branches of the environmental nonprofit Audubon have spoken out about the potential impact of technology on wildlife. Michelle Manion, vice president of policy and advocacy for Mass Audubon, said that while her organization has supported renewable energy, including solar in its agricultural operations, “we wanted to maximize the placement of ground-mounted solar on a number of lands ours, which is the least ecologically sensitive first.”
And there are general concerns that even with dual-use solar panels, arable land could be lost, although BlueWave says the land could be converted to pure agricultural use after the lease. the sun – usually 20 to 30 years – expires.
But one of the most significant obstacles is cost. The Steel costs skyrocketed has a direct effect on the electric farm’s emphasis on elevating panels from 10 to 14 feet. Mr. Hardy explained: “For every foot up, you need to go with two feet into the foundation. “It’s a challenging industry when you think about what we need to do to meet our climate goals. But we continue our journey. “
However, in the end everything depends on the taste of the crop: If the taste or even appearance is far from the taste of the traditional product, this technology will be difficult to sell. But in an early study, researchers at the Biosphere 2 Agronomic Research Laboratory at the University of Arizona found that tasters preferred potatoes, basil, and squash grown using agroelectric methods. However, beans can take a while: A handful of tasters prefer the traditionally grown variety.
