Solar

Utility-scale agrivoltaics project begins operations in Ohio

Utility-scale agrivoltaics project begins operations in Ohio
The Madison Fields Solar Project (Credit: Madison Fields Solar Project / Savion)

Savion, a solar and storage developer, announced the start of commercial operation of Madison Fields Solar Project (MFSP) in Madison County, Ohio – a 180-MW, utility-scale agrivoltaics solar facility.

The facility is Savion’s first project to be designed, developed, constructed, and owned by the company. Madison Fields Solar Project has also become one of the first operating utility-scale solar sites to intentionally integrate forage crop production within the array, Savion said.

Savion’s wholly owned subsidiary, ‘Between the Rows’, is devoted to agrivoltaics, which prioritizes agriculture with land stewardship and dual-use land practices. This effort to led to a partnership with The Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, which includes actively testing and growing forage crops, including hay and alfalfa, along with soil health, precision agriculture, and complementary grazing between the rows of solar panels.

GO DEEPER: Lucy Bullock-Sieger, vice president of strategy for developer Lightstar Renewables, joined Episode 46 of the Factor This! podcast to discuss a new approach to agrivoltaics. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

“The start of commercial operation for Madison Fields Solar Project demonstrates Savion and Shell’s commitment to integrated value and providing green electron access to deliver the products and services customers like Amazon support,” said Nick Lincon, president of Savion. “Today, we are not only celebrating the commencement of Savion’s first constructed and owned project but also how it contributes to our diverse renewable energy development work across the United States, now with more than 1.8 gigawatts (GW) in operation, under contract, and under construction. I am extremely proud of our team’s hard work and dedication in bringing this inaugural solar project online.”

Savion also announced that Amazon has entered into a long-term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with MFSP for offtake of the facility’s full 180 MW capacity. The project is jointly owned by Savion and funds managed by InfraRed Capital Partners with Shell serving as the project’s asset manager.

As of March 2023, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory had identified 314 agrivoltaic projects in the United States representing over 2.8GW of solar capacity, of which most were focused on grazing and pollinator habitat, with relatively few integrating crop production.

In models of a decarbonized electricity system, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Futures Study estimated that solar energy could provide 1 terawatt of electricity-generating capacity to the grid by 2035, which would require the use of 5.7 million acres of land. While this is a small fraction (less than 0.3%) of US land area, solar is likely to conflict with agriculture land use because the same attributes that make land appropriate for solar energy – plentiful sun and flat land – are also attractive for agriculture.

A journal article published in Nature Sustainability finds the co‐location of solar PV and agriculture could provide agricultural enterprises with diversified revenue sources and ecological benefits, while reducing land use competition and siting restrictions.