The Black Cloud Over Solar Energy

Not all is sunny in the countryside when it comes to solar energy and agriculture. While solar energy can provide farmers with a new revenue stream, some are concerned about taking productive ground out of commission.

“If it’s marginal ground, fine; it doesn’t produce very good,” said Jon Freeman, a fourth-generation farmer from south-central Illinois. “But if it’s good, productive stuff, I hate to see it put [into] solar.” 

Freeman leases 15 acres of marginal land for a solar energy project, which he said pays more than he could earn farming it. Yet, he said he is concerned, as he has seen thousands of acres of solar panels pop up around him. 

“I can name probably 10,000 acres worth of good farmland that’s being taken out for solar production just in maybe a two-county area,” he said. 

And why is he concerned? Simple: “We’ve got to eat,” he said. “I think we might go too far.” 

Brad Haight, a lawyer in Denver and owner of Farm First Energy, a renewable energy development company, said he has spent 24 years helping farmers and renewable energy developers draft leasing agreements for wind and solar energy projects. He and Freeman said they know landowners who have turned down solar lease offers. 

“I’ve had them tell me … ‘I get that we make $600 an acre a year … and I get that they’re going to pay us $2,500. This is some of the best farmland in the country. We’re not converting it to energy production,’” Haight said. “It’s almost philosophical.” 

Haight said payments can vary widely, based on a number of factors such as the project’s size and location. He said utility solar projects typically pay $1,200–2,500 per acre annually. He said he has seen community solar projects pay more, such as $3,000 or $4,000 an acre. 

According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), community solar projects can benefit “individuals, businesses, nonprofits, and other groups,” and typically involve customers subscribing to or buying an ownership share of the generated energy in exchange for an electric bill credit. 

A Legislative Roadblock

To help protect farmland in Maine, the state legislature passed a law in 2023 that imposes an additional fee for solar projects planned to displace “high-value agricultural land.” The revenue generated from the new fee will be used to purchase development rights to Maine farmland and place the land in a conservation easement to keep it in agriculture. 

The best outcome, Maine Rep. Bill Pluecker said, would be “solar developers start building solar panels over the tops of malls and parking lots, and encouraging folks to put them in areas which are already developed, not for agricultural use, and that we really don’t see any more development happening on former farms or land that could be future farms.” 

The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry is in the process of regulating the law, so many of the details on how the law will be implemented are up in the air. That said, Pluecker explained that the law exempts farmers who have installed solar for self-consumption, and projects smaller than 5 acres. He also said the latest proposed regulations exempt farm projects in which the farmer could demonstrate the solar project revenue was vital to the operation’s financial stability. 

However, Lindsay Bourgoine, director of policy and government affairs at ReVision Energy, a Maine-based solar company, said the proposed regulations are “vague and subjective,” leaving concern that farmers may miss out on a revenue-diversification opportunity.  

“Maine has a unique opportunity to lead in clean energy development and preserve agricultural heritage at the same time,” she said. “I think the key is really about finding the right balance.” She added, “We essentially feel that this legislation risks tipping that balance away from progress on renewable energy.”

A Solar Scapegoat? 

Bourgoine also pointed out that solar is not the leading cause of farmland loss in Maine. According to the USDA’s 2022 Census of Agriculture, Maine lost 82,567 acres of farmland from 2017–2022. 

“And currently, if we added up all of the solar in the state … that would come out to 4,300 acres,” she said. “And obviously, all of that is not on agricultural lands. But for the sake of this conversation, if we’re saying we lost 82,000 acres since 2017 of farmland, and we have solar only covering just over 4,000 acres, clearly, solar energy is not the main driver of the loss of agricultural lands.

“So I think it’s really important for decision-makers to center laws and regulation on what’s actually happening,” she continued. “And I would encourage folks to continue to look at what are the other drivers of the loss of agricultural lands, because it does feel a bit like solar energy is being singled out.”

Agrivoltaics — Peace or a Pipe Dream? 

There is one approach in which agriculture and solar energy may be able to exist in harmony: agrivoltaics, the practice of agriculture happening around solar panels. 

Silicon Ranch, a full-service solar and carbon solutions company headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, has more than 20 solar projects that employ agrivoltaics. According to Tyler Huber, senior manager of agrivoltaic operations, when the company buys land and employs agrivoltaics, it strategically seeds the land around the panels to feed grazing sheep.

“Sheep are just the tip of the iceberg [of] what sort of industries can thrive under solar panels,” said Huber, who lives on-site at the company’s solar project in Lee County, Georgia. “I’m in a unique position to not see solar taking land out of agriculture.”

The company maintains its own herd, and contracts with local herds. The company has also worked with beekeepers and is collaborating with the DOE on a pilot program to implement cattle grazing around solar panels. 

In addition to seeing agrivoltaics as a way of partnering with the community, the company is also looking to improve soil quality through agrivoltaics to improve land value. 

“The way that I’m managing land under Silicon Ranch’s panels is the best I know how to do it,” Huber said.

Furthermore, the company said managed grazing is cutting operational costs for vegetation management by as much as 20%. 

However, not all are sold on agrivoltaics. 

“What I’ve heard is that from a pure business standpoint, it doesn’t have returns, at least not meaningful returns,” said Haight, the Denver-based lawyer. 

Dave Muth, director of capital markets at Peoples Co., an integrated land solutions firm headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, had this to say: “I don’t mean to sound overly negative on it, but the key questions when we look at trying to do these things at scale are, one, does it make money? Two, can I scale it? And the notion of integrating animals in with solar panels right now doesn’t pass either of those.” 

Yet, Haight said there are still companies doing it.  “I’m going to bet that we see more in the way of ag inside the fence of solar projects. But I think it’s going to be more on the smaller projects,” he said.