A roundup of two agrivoltaics projects from different sides of the world. Avangrid has begun grazing sheep at two PV sites in the Pacific Northwest of the US, whilst Lodestone Energy and Trina Solar have completed construction of a solar-plus-sheep project in New Zealand.
Avangrid builds “largest” agriPV project in Northwest US
US renewable energy developer Avangrid has begun operating what it called the “largest ‘solar grazing’ operation” in the Pacific Northwest of the country.
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The company has partnered with a fifth-generation sheep rancher to incorporate the livestock at its 162MW Pachwáywit Fields solar farm in Gilliam County, Oregon and the 150MW Lund Hill solar project in Klickitat County, Washington. Avangrid said that these two projects are both the “largest” utility-scale solar sites in their respective states.
The Pachwáywit Fields is part of regional utility Portland General Electric’s Future Impact scheme, which looks to help commercial, industrial and municipal customers reduce carbon emissions.
Incorporating sheep at a PV plant is one of the various possible iterations of agrivoltaics, the practice of using land for both agriculture and solar PV power generation. Grazing sheep naturally cuts back vegetation and weeds growing beneath and around solar modules and reduces the need for landscaping machinery and maintenance. This also reduces wildfire risk and the potential damage that vehicles can cause to a solar array.
Dustin Ervin, Avangrid’s senior solar manager for Oregon and Washington, said: “The sheep manoeuvre around our solar panels better than the large mowing equipment we used in the past, and they eat right up to the panel arrays. We are proud to have taken this from concept to reality and I look forward to seeing how renewable energy companies begin to forge sustainable partnerships like what we’ve built with Cameron [Krebs, the rancher].”
The Oregon project began commercial operations in April 2023, while the Washington site commenced in February of that year.
Avangrid is a fully-owned US subsidiary of Spanish energy major Iberdrola. The latter completed its full acquisition of Avangrid in May this year when it took on the final 18.4% stake it did not already own.
Lodestone and Trina Solar complete New Zealand solar grazing project
Chinese solar manufacturing major Trina Solar and New Zealand-based solar company Lodestone Energy have completed construction of the 32MW Rangitaiki Solar Farm in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand.
The project features raised modules mounted on trackers, which allow sheep to graze beneath them. The modules in question are Trina Solar Vertex bifacial panels, mounted on TrinaTracker’s Vanguard 2P tracker systems.
Gary Holden, managing director of Lodestone Energy said: “By integrating solar farms with agricultural activities, Lodestone Energy can maintain approximately 80% of grass productivity, ensuring that the land continues to support local farming needs.”
Edison Zhou, head of Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands at Trina Solar Asia Pacific added: “From a pasture management perspective, the 2P trackers are ideal. They allow animals to move freely under the modules without confinement, providing essential shade and promoting continuous grass growth even during dry conditions.”
The two companies have already worked together on agrivoltaics plants in New Zealand. Lodestone developed the Kohirā solar farm on the country’s North Island using Trina’s modules and trackers. The Auckland-based company is also currently developing what will be a 220MW agrivotlaics plant on the South Island.
The Rangitaiki Solar Farm will also seek to deploy more novel agrivoltaics concepts, Lodestone said. It mentioned the cultivation of strawberries between the strings of modules, which it said can enhance the efficiency of bifacial modules by reflecting sunlight onto their undersides.
Moreover, crops beneath modules can lower their temperature by transpiring moisture, which can improve their operational efficiency. Modules, in turn, can create shade that makes dry areas more readily cultivable.
