The sheep have many benefits, and in the era of renewables a new job! His eagerness to eat herb provides an almost perfect combination with the solar installations located in the field.
The agrophotovoltaics, agriculture combined with solar panels, it has several combinations; combined solar with orchard agriculture, with fields of olive and almond trees, with grazing land for animals, etc.
In all cases! the grass that grows under the solar plant, is a problem, both in economic and environmental cost, Mainly, chemical products are used to eradicate vegetation.
As a coherent solution, the so-called solar grazing. Definitely, use herds of herbivorous farm animals to eradicate the weed that grows under the panel photovoltaic and, sheep are the choice! perfect!
Why use sheep instead of goats or cows? for sun grazing? Cows are curious and big. They like to rub against things. To the goats, likes to climb and jump on any element. They like bite the wires But the sheep are relatively small, not very curious and move with their heads lowered, in In short, they are not interested in the solar panel at all.
The pasture of herds of sheep in the plants photovoltaics brings tangible advantages such as reviews American Solar Grazing Association:
In the following video we can see an example of professional solar grazing from a farm photovoltaics in the USA
We refer to “professional solar grazing” as a business, which works and is profitable, and can be seen clearly from the American Solar Grazing Association (ASGA) or from different US institutions
We could start with the following document «checklist» (In English) on minimum indications that must be met pastoralists and companies producing renewable energy that want to practice solar grazing… What obligations should they be raised? From both perspectives, company and shepherd.
Include this technique in the initial stages of the planning a photovoltaic energy project will allow companies to adapt spaces for optimal management. He solar grazing, is more successful when implemented as part of a strategic and rotating plan such as Review this CFRA document (In Spanish).
Actually, this practice requires further study. deeper than it appears… How to know if the grass Do you have enough nutrition for your animals? How many sheep per hectare are necessary?…
The following document already brings us closer to a more detail about the proper balance between demand for forage, area and rotation required:
And from the following association documentation american. There are different examples in Excel about quotations for grazing-based solar farms sun and its rotation. An example is the model of the Hudson Valley, located in New York State, more than 100 acres (0.40 km2) with 25-year solar lease:
In English, most studies report on the savings in sheep grazing costs compared to mowing and traditional mechanical trimming, but few report on profitability to the farmer. In the next document (Mount Morris Agrophotovoltaic Study) we can see more clearly.
And if you want to go into it in more depth, we recommend the following webinar from Youtube on how to scale a project…
The conclusion is clear, income from farms have declined, and solar grazing allows farmers and ranchers to increase and diversify their income by maintaining their farms and land.
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