[light music]
NARRATOR: More energy from the sun hits the Earth
every hour than humans use in a year.
But if we wanna up the use of that carbon-free power,
we'll have to capture a lot more of it.
That will take space, heaps of it.
And finding space for solar arrays
that doesn't sacrifice the environment
or other things people care about...
Well that? Is All Science. No Fiction.
[bouncy music]
[plate meter beeping]
Every few weeks, Oregon State grad student, Alyssa Andrew,
takes a stroll through the solar array.
ALYSSA: This is a plate meter.
So we basically just go...
NARRATOR: It gives her the height of the grass.
You want about 30 measurements per plot.
NARRATOR: The ground cover is a mix
of grasses, clover, and other plants
that provide a delicious lunch
for the solar array's current residents.
[sheep bleating]
ALYSSA: Usually one of them will come up,
and either the other ones will follow or they'll just stare,
like, "I kinda want pets,
but also I don't know if I trust you."
NARRATOR: Andrew is studying pasture growth, water use,
how quickly the lambs are growing,
and if the panels cause them stress.
ALYSSA: Just from personal experience,
they seem to like it better. [chuckles]
NARRATOR: And some of her results comparing
this kind of pasture to open fields are surprising.
Around the panels, the lambs chunked up fast,
almost as fast as in the open.
ALYSSA: Plants underneath the panels
tend to have higher leaf area,
so that way they can capture more sunlight.
So it had better nutritional values for them.
NARRATOR: The research is showing the untapped potential
of what's been dubbed agrivoltaics.
I spend a lot of my time thinking
about what I can do that's transformational,
that's not just a little better,
something that's gonna change the way we think.
NARRATOR: It's thinking that will eventually help make
the most out of solar projects,
like this one already underway in Southern Oregon.
CHAD: We're working on something
that I think can have a huge impact.
NARRATOR: Agrivoltaics pairs agriculture
and solar power production to the mutual benefit of both.
Think salt and caramel, gin and tonic,
ranch and, well, anything.
They're better together.
Solar likes to be in places that have flat ground,
plenty of sun, already ecologically disturbed, deep soils,
close to an urban area
so that we have access to markets and infrastructure.
I just described agricultural land.
NARRATOR: Drive through a rural area
and you've probably seen it:
farm fields that have been decommissioned
and converted to solar installations.
It's usually one or the other.
But Higgins' research is showing ways
of doing both together.
I think the keyword are more food, better food,
less water, extra revenue for the farm.
It's a four-way win for farmers.
NARRATOR: And it's a huge win for everyone else
if it helps us stop burning fossil fuels.
The solution to climate change is rural America.
NARRATOR: So how does
all this agrivoltaic benefit happen?
[light music] [air whooshes]
Well, solar panels can extend growing seasons for some crops
by protecting them from frost in the winter
and from the intense sun of summer.
CHAD: So you can push the seasons out in both directions
when it's designed right.
NARRATOR: And while farmers would lose
some plantable ground to the panels,
they could make up for it by selling the energy.
CHAD: A guaranteed revenue stream
that you can count on every year.
NARRATOR: But of all the benefits
that agrivoltaic systems could provide,
the impact on water use may be the most intriguing.
MATT DAVIS: If we were a big commercial operation,
we wouldn't be doing it this way,
but research is a little less efficient.
Water is an issue.
Our climate is getting hotter and dryer,
and if we wanna continue to grow food and eat,
then we we need to look at alternatives.
NARRATOR: Garrett studies dry farming.
That's growing crops without irrigation.
AMY: Hm, so this is Adirondack Blue.
I don't know actually know what color it is on the inside.
This is the first time we've grown it.
NARRATOR: Their harvest will show
if dry farming different varieties of potatoes
in the shelter of solar panels gives them any added boost.
Potatoes are more shade-tolerant than some other crops
that love full sun like tomatoes and squash
and melons and dry beans and corn.
NARRATOR: Agrivoltaics pairs nicely with dry farming
because the panels can reduce
how much precious water is lost
to evaporation and transpiration, you know, plant sweat.
AMY: In the solar setting, there's definitely,
not just a shading effect,
but a sheltering effect from the wind as well.
NARRATOR: And Garrett is finding some potato varieties
are doing better around the panels than in full sun.
But despite the promising results,
agrivoltaics are not gonna work
for every crop and every climate,
and big outstanding questions about grid access
and upfront costs linger.
We don't have to make it work everywhere, right?
We can pick and choose and pick the best spots.
It's our universe to design.
NARRATOR: It's a universe built on science and technology
that puts rural communities at its center.
10 years from now, 20 years from now, we'll have that.
We'll have the designs.
It won't be a research question anymore.
It'll be a reality.
NARRATOR: And in agrivoltaics, Higgins sees a future
that's bright enough to power the entire country.
[sheep bleating]
[ranch sloshing]
Fingers crossed.
[wind whooshing]
Woo-hoo!
[beans clatter]
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