Designing dual-use solar projects for maximum impact

Around a decade ago, dual-use solar entered the industry’s vernacular via “pollinator-friendly” arrays. Pioneering states like Minnesota took the first steps to encourage solar developers to plant native flowers and meadow grass underneath arrays to attract pollinating insects and birds. These projects boasted local environmental and farming benefits and helped create positive community sentiment about solar power.

Fast-forward to 2026, and dual-use solar projects, also known as agrivoltaics, have expanded to include crop-growing, animal grazing and more. Photos of sheep, cattle and plants coexisting with solar pop up daily on social media. The U.S. Department of Energy even publishes an Agrivoltaics Map, currently featuring 670 solar sites with dual uses.

While it may still be in its nascent phase, there’s no doubt dual-use solar is catching on.

Solar benefits for farmers

Farming is a volatile industry. Declining crop prices and rising production costs make simply breaking even unachievable for a large number of farmers, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. Many are looking for new income streams to bring their families more certainty to fall back on in tough years.

“Electricity is about the only thing farmers can hedge right now. They’re getting pinched by input inflation all around — labor, land, fuel, building materials, fertilizer,” said Dan French, founder of the Solar Farm Summit. “The electrons are going to pay to do all kinds of things on the farm that we would have to just pay for otherwise.”

While some dissenting voices assert solar arrays take up prime farmland, the truth is much of the land farmers choose to lease for solar projects would not be used for other farm activities. In a 2026 study, the Solar Energy Industries Association found solar uses only .07% of prime U.S. farmland — compared to suburban sprawl and golf courses, which use 6-times and 3-times more, respectively.

“This is often low, fallow land that they don’t want to farm, or it’s been over-farmed and the tractors get stuck back there,” said Lee Vernon, PV O&M Supervisor at Arch Electric.

Solar arrays with pollinator-friendly groundcover, especially when grazed by livestock, can give the soil a chance to rejuvenate and potentially enter back into crop production.

“Every person I’ve talked to so far that was a farmer that has leased out their land, they’re very happy with it and it’s a huge benefit for them as well,” Vernon said.

In addition to providing farmers with income for leasing their land, agrivoltaic arrays can actually support the growth of certain crops by creating tiny microclimates — trapping heat in cold weather conditions and preserving water with shading in dry locations. These arrays can also be incredibly beneficial for livestock, providing much-needed shade and food supply for grazing.

With increasing extreme weather worldwide, dual use and home-grown energy may only become more important.

“All this cooler, lusher grass and moisture under the panels — that actually is a really, really big deal. In some of the more dramatic forward-looking scenarios, I think [agrivoltaics] might be worth more than electrons in the end,” French said.

O&M perks of grazed solar sites

Typical non-desert solar arrays are blanketed with the short-growing turf grass seen in many front yards. Though it doesn’t grow very high, it still requires expensive mowing several times during the summer season.

Solar sites that instead pair native pollinator groundcover with grazing animals like sheep can save on mowing and also enjoy the benefits of being much more sustainable and potentially appealing to neighboring communities. Using animals for O&M especially makes sense on sites that aren’t flat, which could pose a challenge for mowing.

“When you start to throw together mowers and uneven land, you start to now open yourself to other risks and problems,” said Michael Schwarz, General Manager at Arch Electric O&M. “Hillier land might be more advantageous for a grazing-plus-pollination solution.”

Dual-use solar design considerations

Dual-use and agrivoltaic solar projects aren’t wildly different from regular PV projects, but do require a few special considerations. If the project will involve crops growing among the panels, irrigation lines must be accurately mapped out to ensure piles don’t interfere with crop watering. Tracker rows will also likely need to be spaced further apart to give farmers enough room to plant crops.

Sites grazed by sheep require very few accommodations besides a strong perimeter fence to protect from predators and paddocks to subdivide the array and ensure the livestock thoroughly graze all the plants.

“Essentially, sheep are perfect. They require only additional fencing, no modifications,” said Paul Cummings, Senior Vice President of Development at energyRe and co-owner of solar grazing company Sunovis Ranch.

Although sheep and solar can be a great fit, project owners still have to put in the time, money and effort to set up a proper and effective grazing operation.

“Your chances of failure are really high if you don’t put in an excellent fence system,” Cummings said.

Cummings said there’s plenty of room for more innovation in the solar grazing sector, including reducing the labor involved in moving around temporary paddocks by transitioning to a remote gate system that can usher the sheep into new sections when the time comes.

“We need to level up the sheep game to be more similar to what [the industry is] doing with trackers, so that we can mimic what they’re doing and potentially be integrated,” he said.

Although sheep are the most prevalent solar grazing animal, some companies like Silicon Ranch are testing new dual-use sites with solar and cattle. For cattle to work on solar projects, tracker posts must be higher than usual and wire management must be carefully considered to give the animals clearance.

In all these solar grazing and dual-use scenarios, the leading tracker brands provided by Ampacity are uniquely capable of performing. Ampacity offers both unlinked and linked tracker products, the former allowing for more flexibility of row spacing and the latter allowing for installation on more aggressive topography.

Working with the right partner from the start can ensure agrivoltaic developers and EPCs are choosing the best, most cost-effective tracker and specs for the job. Many large tracker manufacturers don’t work directly with smaller clients, but specialized supply chain partners like Ampacity are available for those circumstances. A distribution partner can provide them with manufacturer-level product and design expertise, along with deep knowledge of local permitting regulations.

“It’s critical to get a thorough snapshot of what the costs and any specific AHJ (Authorities Having Jurisdiction) roadblocks will look like from the start when you’re working on a project with dual uses that’s a little more out of the ordinary,” said Paul Towber, Senior Director of Project Design at Ampacity.

Along with transparent, early cost estimates, in-depth topographical analyses and pile point plans can ensure the highest degree of accuracy on agrivoltaic projects and avoid delays along the project’s lifecycle.

“A value-added distribution partner like Ampacity can map out how best to adapt the trackers to the land and give customers a really clear picture of what the project will look like,” Towber said.

Additional construction considerations from a hands-on project partner can also help minimize any stress on animals that might live close to agricultural solar arrays. On a solar project for California Polytechnic State University, Ampacity swapped the typical pile driver, which can make a significant amount of noise, with a vibratory pile driver that did not alarm the horses in the stable onsite.

Once installed, solar trackers aren’t stationary, but their minimal, quiet movements as they track the sun throughout the day typically do not disturb animals nearby. Their tracking motion is intermittently distributed over the course of the day and only runs a few degrees at a time, amounting to about one total hour of tracking per day.

“Solar arrays can coexist with farming operations in a way that no other energy generation project can,” Towber said. “The benefits to all parties are huge and will only become more significant as extreme weather poses new challenges to the agricultural sector.”