Greener sheep: Life cycle analysis of integrated sheep agrivoltaic systems

Abstract/Summary:

Solar photovoltaic (PV) growth can be stalled due to social acceptance. Agrivoltaics can improve social acceptance by enabling dual use of land. The most popular type of agrivoltaics in North America is grazing sheep under conventional PV farms. The environmental benefits of this integrated agrivoltaic system are unknown, so this ISO-compliant life cycle assessment study investigates the environmental performance of sheep-based agrivoltaic systems. This study investigated agrivoltaics to produce a combined output of electricity and agricultural goods, in comparison to conventional methods (various electric grid generation mixes in the U.S. and plane pastures) for producing that same quantify of service in both categories