Sustainable Ramona is a local non-profit dedicated to the preservation of our surroundings. By responding to your questions each month, we intend to provide you with common-sense, affordable and short- and long-term ways to manage issues such as increasing water shortages, high heat, high electric bills and minimize waste going to landfills.
This month we address the question of where to locate solar s in order to maximize their benefits of creating power. Solar s are very versatile; they can be placed on neighborhood rooftops, on top of buildings, in ground mount installations and cover parking lots.
Farmland need not be taken out of production nor vast acreage set aside solely for large arrays. There is a much better way — agrivoltaics.
What is agrivoltaics?
Agrivoltaics is the use of land for both agriculture and solar photovoltaic energy generation, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Essentially, the s are located above plants or livestock, so farms continue to generate food products for sale, while overhead solar s convert sunshine into electricity.
Let me say that words alone can’t describe the brilliance (pun alert) of this science. In Sustainable Ramona’s video, “Ramona Community Microgrid,” we share a video clip of agrivoltaics in action. This video is posted on SustainableRamona.com or on the Sustainable Ramona channel on YouTube.
By watching the video, you can get a clear idea of the complete Sustainable Ramona vision for our community. When starting the video at 17:40, the benefits of agrivoltaics will become clear in a few minutes.
What are the advantages of agrivoltaics?
Farms would generate a second stream of income from the electricity generated on their land.
The shade from the s above crops has been beneficial to crop productivity. A study in found that berry weight for wine increased 17% under solar s. Similar benefits have been found in multiple university studies for other produce such as tomatoes, chiltepin and jalapenos.
Another significant benefit is reduced water use. This varies from crop to crop, but the reduction is significant.
There is a symbiotic relationship between the solar s and plants below them. Plants help cool the s from underneath, allowing increased electricity production.
s elevated above crops can be mounted on frames with a dual axis tracking system, so the s can follow the sun’s movements and generate electricity much better than fixed roof or ground mount systems. Less s are required utilizing such tracking technologies.
Most importantly, with temperatures rising every year around the planet, and catastrophic weather events becoming more common, Agrivoltaics offers more protection to crops in the event of a heat dome such as occurred in Oregon and Washington in 2021. Salem, Oregon reached 117 degrees!
Sustainable Ramona believes utilizing the science of agrivoltaics is the greenest, most efficient way to deploy solar s. This is how Ramona (and the state of California) can protect our agricultural economy as climate change becomes more severe and help Ramona achieve energy independence while promoting our local agriculture economy.
Sindewald, a 30-year Ramona resident, is a member of the Sustainable Ramona board of directors and a proponent of a Ramona microgrid.
