ASGA Call 78: Raising the Panels for Cattle Grazing
June 4 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm EDT
How do you make solar arrays cattle proof and what does cattle grazing under solar panels look like now?
To provide an update on some of the latest developments in solar cattle, we’ve invited 3 sets of speakers to discuss how they’re integrating cattle grazing operations on community scale arrays on farms in Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania.
At the webinar, we’ll discuss site modifications to accommodate cattle, and how farmers are integrating the arrays into their farms and managing their grazing operations.
Register here: https://solargrazing.org/ASGA-Call-78
About the Speakers
Here is the lineup of speakers and their respective cattle grazing projects:
Tom Roberts and his daughter Michelle run Burgundy Brook Farm in Belchertown, MA. On their 700 acre farm, they’ve installed a 16 acre array where they’ll be growing hay and doing rotational cattle grazing under the panels. Jesse Robertson-Dubois from BlueWave Energy will discuss the system design, which uses single-axis trackers and 10-feet vertical clearance.
Doug Neidich from solar developer GreenWorks Development (www.greenworksdev.com) in Harrisburg, PA, will talk about his work on several 10-acre solar arrays on farms in Pennsylvania for cattle grazing. They use a 7-foot minimum height array for cattle, but also do arrays at a 3-foot minimum height for sheep grazing and a 9-foot height for horses. In addition to discussing the site design and leasing approach, Doug will also be joined by one of their future Pennsylvania solar cattle graziers to discuss how they will run their cattle grazing operation.
Brad Heins from the University of Minnesota’s West Central Research and Outreach Center, will give an update on the center’s ongoing agrivoltaics project on their dairy farm. They’ve been running the program since 2017 and are grazing up to 250 heads of cattle. Brad will discuss the system design, the research results they’ve observed, and their efforts to develop a 20kw portable solar system for pasture grazing.
