Spinach and sheep show us that solar parks are not just for green energy
New work from the University of Alberta aims to maximize the green energy that comes from the province’s solar farms.
The practice is known as agrivoltaics – placing crops under solar panels, effectively doubling the efficiency of a thriving solar industry. In this case, the crop is spinach.
Radio Active6:28Growing food under solar panels
We talk to a researcher from the U of A about a project that aims to meet our energy and food needs at the same time.
“In many ways, it’s a win-win situation,” said soil scientist Guillermo Hernandez Ramirez, a professor in the U of A’s faculty of agricultural, life, and environmental sciences.
Solar farms require a significant amount of land, a challenge that has drawn criticism from the farming community and some opponents of renewable energy initiatives.
EPCOR’s kīsikāw pīsim solar park covers 21 hectares in southwest Edmonton. At the other end of the scale is the Travers Solar Project in Lomond, Alta. It stretches over 1,350 hectares and is currently the largest in Canada.
The U of A pilot project, led by Hernandez Ramirez and research intern Camila Quiroz, was a 25-day lab test to see if solar farms could do double duty.
Research was done in a growth chamber that compared the growth of spinach in three conditions: under a thin solar panel, under a thick solar panel and uncovered.
Spinach plants under solar panels used up to 17 percent less water – and although they grew more slowly, the overall health of the plant was not compromised.
And as they grew, the plants kept the area under the panels cool, which boosted the efficiency of the solar panels.
“There’s a synergy here,” said Hernandez Ramirez.
It’s about “trying to use space in a more efficient way,” he said. “We are able to combine the two efforts, the energy transition challenge and the food security challenge.”
‘Growing food, fiber and fertilizer’
Spinach is not the only thing that can thrive on a solar farm.
In 2012, Janna Greir and husband Ryan started Whispering Cedars Ranch near Strathmore, Alta. Last year, they brought 450 sheep to pasture at Strathmore Solar, a 130-acre project run by Edmonton-based Capital Power.
In May, the herd returned to the solar park. The sheep stay there until October, providing affordable and effective lawn care. In turn, the solar panels will shade the animals while they graze.
“We grow food, fiber and fertilizer with green energy. You don’t get better than that,” said Janna Greir.
The American Solar Grazing Association was formed in 2018 to promote solar sheep grazing in the United States. Many solar farms in Ontario use sheep, but the idea is relatively new to Alberta.
Access to a large tract of land has been a breakthrough for the Greirs as first-generation farmers, and now they are being approached by other solar projects and farms interested in opportunities.
Grazing sheep help challenge the idea that solar farms put a strain on farmland, Janna said.
“It says land can still be productive,” she said. “Agrivoltaics changes that.”
Doing double work in a green future
Hernandez Ramirez hopes U of A’s research will lead to a wider range of crops grown on solar farms and says the work is scalable, meaning solar panels and plants could end up on balconies, in backyards or in urban green spaces – generate food and electricity.
Making agrovoltaics accessible is something he believes could benefit communities across the country, whether it’s spinach or sheep.
“If people can engage,” Hernandez Ramirez said, “they may feel more connected to where their energy comes from and also where their food comes from.”
