PVTECH: AgriPV interest is rising in the US, could help secure permits

Lightstar's Director of Engineering, Allison DeNunzio, shares her thoughts along with other industry experts on the steps that solar developers are taking to increase the intake of agrivoltaics projects.

“A way to kind of mitigate that is to get agriPV kind of across the line, which is integrating solar farms on farmland, but making the two coexist equally.” Allison DeNunzio, director of engineering at Lightstar Renewables. DeNunzio added that the company is looking into the design challenges of having solar on farmland, such as the space between panels to allow tractors to pass through, or the capital expenditure that goes into constructing these projects.

“That’s kind of why we’re doing it. It is land stewardship. Make sure that previously farmed land that has been generationally farmed, is not taken out of farming. It is now farmland plus solar. So we’re creating affordable energy options, plus a little bit of extra money for the farmer to use. That’s really the goal with agriPV.”

Moreover, it is not just US solar developers that are interested in the dual application of agricultural land with solar PV, with tracker manufacturers also studying how productivity can affect crops.

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