Solar Grazing Budget Templates

This is the beginning of solar graziers developing economic models to show how they incorporate solar grazing into their business.

The templates below are freely available to all solar graziers and solar site owners; however, we ask you to please consider making a donation to ASGA by clicking the donate button below.

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Click on the name of the model/budget to access the template.

Mount Morris Agrivoltaic Study
* Study includes Morris Ridge Solar Energy Grazing Enterprise Budget.

Specifics on this model

Co-locating sheep grazing with utility-scale solar photo- voltaic (PV) systems is a relatively new trend in the United States, and thus reviews of successful business models and availability of estimated enterprise budgets are limited.
Many studies report on the cost savings of grazing sheep versus traditional mechanical mowing and trimming for vegetative management of solar sites, but few report on the profitability to the grazier from grazing sheep or lambs.
To date, this nascent industry reports varying returns depending upon scale of PV systems, region of the country, and the business model adopted by the sheep grazier.
This study builds upon current literature by estimating sheep graziers’ returns from grazing a utility-scale PV system in western New York—the Morris Ridge Solar Energy Center.

*Excerpt from the Mount Morris Agrivoltaic Study: Morris Ridge Solar Energy Grazing Enterprise Budget (starts on page 7 of the study)

Resource Links

University of Maryland Solar Grazing Budget

*Template will automatically download when you click on the name or image of the budget. Contact Susan at sschoen@umd.edu for the password to unlock the spreadsheet.

Specifics on this model

Maryland Small Ruminant Page

NC Choices Sheep Grazing Solar Farm Budget

*Template will automatically download when you click on the name or image of the budget.

Specifics on this model

NC Choices website

Hudson Valley Solar Grazing Model

*Template will automatically download when you click on the name or image of the budget.

Specifics on this model

Developed in 2019
Multigenerational farm family located in New York State
Array will be over 100 acres located on the family's home farm
Grazing will occur on the lands the family leased to a solar firm
Solar lease is 25 years so grazing is geared towards a 25 year + horizon
Family has experience in the production of cattle, hay, corn, soy, and a variety of other cash crops
There are off-farm jobs and other sources of farm income not represented in this model
Model is heavy on investment in infrastructure with a view towards employing several family members
Model assumes some outside help while the family learns sheep and solar grazing

What's next?

ASGA hopes to obtain more funding to create additional models, including the more traditional model where the grazing is not occurring on the home farm
Solar graziers can download this model, insert and delete fields to tweak this for accuracy in their region
ASGA will ask graziers in a year to reconvene, submitting anonymous versions for discussion.
ASGA will generate a database over time of solar grazing business models and budget for the community to exchange and share.

Join us! Participate in improving on this model. It's just the beginning!

Solar Grazing Budget Templates

This is the beginning of solar graziers developing economic models to show how they incorporate solar grazing into their business.

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