SolAgra® Farming and the sunsharingTM Revolution |
SolAgra® Farming enables farmland to produce both crops and energy. Our innovative, patented solar arrays are mounted above agricultural fields and share solar resources with crops. Learn more about SolAgra® Farming in the video below.
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University of Delaware to test and study SolAgra agrivoltaic arrays
SolAgra has been contracted by the University of Delaware for two agrivoltaic solar arrays that will be built at two UDel campuses in Newark and Georgetown to study solar power and crop production on farmland. SolAgra plans to build and launch the solar arrays for the 2024 growing season. These facilities will allow faculty and students in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources to study the benefits of co-locating solar tracking systems with crop production.
Click on the link below to learn more about this project in an article from Solar Power World.
Click on the link below to learn more about this project in an article from Solar Power World.
Interested in starting a solagra® farm?
If you are a farmer, farm land owner, or an investor interested SolAgra® Farming please contact us and we can discuss how SolAgra® can work with you to power your operation, protect farmland, conserve water and increase profits.
How does SolAgra® Farming work?
SolAgra® has developed a patented design we call SolAgra® Farming, which allows for solar panels and crops to share the solar resources of the same unit of land. We do this by using a combination of patented tracking and light passage technologies, the SolAgra® Solar Platform, SunSharing™, SunShading™, CounterTracking™ and DynamicShifting™. When combined, these technologies allow the crops to get all sun that they need, while the panels above generate electricity. The solar panels will be mounted on arrays that are 10-16 feet above the ground to allow for large modern farm equipment to pass beneath.
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SunSharing™
SunSharing™ shares solar resources with crops by allowing sunlight to reach crops through the space between panels
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CounterTracking™
Solar panels normally track the sun. In certain conditions CounterTracking™ is used and the solar panels are rotated 90 degrees from the sun, to allow for the passage of additional sunlight to the field when needed by the crops.
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DynamicShifting™ and SunShading™
DynamicShifting™ refers to the ability of the SolAgra® Solar Platform to tilt it's columns east, or west to shift the position of the panels above, thus shifting the shadows below.
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DynamicShifting™ and the UmbrellaEffect™
DynamicShifting™ can be used to create SunShading™ , or an UmbrellaEffect™, protecting the crops from extreme weather, from the hot sun, to rain and hail.
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Can agricultural lands support solar production?
Land that is good for agriculture is also useful for solar farming. It's flat and sunny and until recently, it was assumed that any sunshine you take for solar energy production is sunshine that you take away from crops. But recent research is demonstrating that crops can actually be enhanced with the right solar array. At SolAgra® we have developed solar platforms and arrays to specifically to allow for light passage to crops. Plant scientists at the University of Delaware are working in partnership with us to discover the perfect crops and light saturations for maximum crop yields. Excessive sunlight can harm plants and make them less productive. Controlled shade can help. Each crop has a light saturation point that can be maximized using dynamic shifting of a SolAgra Farming Solar Array.
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Does the Construction Process of the SOlagra® Solar platform Hurt the Soil?
One of the most pressing issues of using traditional ground-mount solar arrays in an agrivoltaic environment is the frequency of steel piles that support the arrays and the compaction of the soils on the farm when the piles are driven during construction. SolAgra’s® patented solar platform greatly reduces the amount of connection points to the ground and only has an 18” footprint every 35’ x 45’. It also uses a light weight, low ground pressure, track mounted drill rig to drill the piers, again reducing the impact on the soil. To learn more about our construction techniques and how they reduce soil compaction, you can download a pdf further explaining our process by clicking the button below.
What crops can be grown under solagra® farming?
SolAgra® Farming is capable of sustaining and improving yields in a large number of crops due to it's ability to customize light and shade saturation. It does this by using the light control techniques DynamicShifting™ and CounterTracking™. Some crops that grow under SolAgra® Farming include grapes, raspberries, cherries, apples, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, goji berries, potatoes and alfalfa, but our system can be used in any climate to grow most crops.
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Why put solar panels above crops?
Just as the wind industry has had success developing on farmland, we believe that PV solar can accomplish that same success. Agricultural land is generally sunny, flat and in many places is close to existing power lines and urban areas; these characteristics are precisely what constitutes good land for developing PV arrays. The cooler microclimate created by the crops under the array increases panel efficiency. Also adding solar arrays on farmland will provide the value of electricity as a new commodity in addition to food for farmers. Using already developed agricultural land also provides the added benefit of conservation of wild desert lands where solar production has traditionally been developed and proposed, without taking farm land out of production.