The US Department of Energy (DOE) has selected 6 agrivoltaic projects for a total of $8 million funding with an aim to increase access to solar energy in the country and also create economic opportunities for farmers.
Funding has been approved under the Foundational Agrivoltaic Research for Megawatt Scale (FARMS) program through which the administration seeks to develop 'replicable' models for agrivoltaics that can not only provide economic avenues, but also reduce land-use conflicts.
The department says it targets to make agrivoltaic practices easier to adopt, lowering costs and maximizing benefits for farmers, rural communities and the solar industry.
Winners and winning projects are as follows:
"With these exciting projects, we're supporting sustainable agriculture and investing in the technologies that enable us to make our climate goals a reality—a win-win for our planet and hardworking farmers coast to coast," said US Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.
The DOE says these investments will advance President Joe Biden's Justice40 Initiative to ensure clean energy benefits all Americans. Solar energy is critical to the US meeting its 100% clean economy target by 2050.
Recently another US government agency, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), discussed success factors for agrivoltaics in the country in 2 technical reports (see NREL Reports Highlight Potential For Agrivoltaics In US).