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Thursday, December 9, 2021

Water-saving Farm under Solar Panels by Nancy Shepard


Photo: Kirk Siegler

With so much gloomy news about climate change and the continuing drought conditions in Colorado, I saw a story on NPR that had positive news about solar power and agriculture that I wanted to share.

A small farm owner in Boulder has switched from growing alfalfa on part of his property to installing solar panels on the acreage, growing crops under the panels, and using as much as 50% less water for those crops. Peppers, tomatoes, squash, pumpkins, lettuces, beets, turnips, carrots, chard and kale have thrived and been harvested. His solar panels have generated enough power for 300 homes this year and he hopes to grow enough food beneath the panels to feed as many families.

It’s called agrivoltaics, first pioneered in Europe and Asia. With so many family farms barely hanging on in a world of corporate consolidation and so many older farmers nearing retirement, this could prove successful here in the U.S. Here’s the full story from Kirk Siegler, national correspondent for western states for NPR:

https://www.npr.org/2021/11/14/1054942590/solar-energy-colorado-garden-farm-land