Agrivoltaics debut at the 2023 Food and Farm Festival

Leaders in agriculture, farming, and cooking convened in downtown Anchorage for the 2023 Alaska Food and Farm Festival. Bookended by two bouts of heavy snowfall, the conference took place on the sunny reprieve during the weekend of Nov. 10-12.

Institute of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Extension Co-Investigator Glenna Gannon and ACEP Researcher Savannah Crichton attended the festival to build community around a new project, Agrivoltaics: Unlocking Mid-Market Solar in Rural Northern Climates. With funding from the U.S. Department of Energy and CleanCapital, the research team includes collaborators from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Alaska Pacific University, and Renewable IPP.

Crichton opened the presentation with the definition of agrivoltaics: the co-use of land for both solar and agricultural production. In the Lower 48, solar farms consist of panels spaced close together, meaning that farming or animal grazing usually takes place underneath the panels.

In northern latitudes, the angle of the sun is much lower, meaning panels need to be spaced farther apart to prevent shading each other. Solar farms with this design, like the new 8.5-megawatt farm in Houston, Alaska, have ample room between panels for crop plots.

Utilizing the state of Alaska’s largest solar farm, the research team will monitor the responses of vegetables, grazing crops, and wild edibles. Crichton said that the same plot of land will sell clean energy to Matanuska Electric Association while also providing the community with fresh produce.

Gannon reviewed the overarching objectives of the research with the crowd: increasing food sovereignty and energy security in Alaska and other northern climates. By involving stakeholders from the inception of the project, community voices provide a grounded understanding of how agrivoltaics may be adopted and the anticipated barriers or benefits.

At the end of their talk, Gannon and Crichton shared a QR code allowing people to sign up for the stakeholder pool. They spent the next few hours engaging with conference attendees, explaining how their organizations or farms could participate and eventually adopt agrivoltaic systems.

From farmers across the state, there is a desire to adopt innovative, renewable systems that could also potentially boost their crop production. For communities, this means strengthening local food systems.

Agrivoltaics research will provide interested parties with agricultural yield data, PV performance data, and a techno economic analysis. These figures will guide the next generation of farmers, utilities, solar industries, tribal entities, and government agencies toward renewable, regenerative growing technologies.