AFT Releases Policy Recommendations to Advance Agrivoltaics

By Michael Shulman

American Farmland Trust, the national leader in agriculturally compatible solar, has released its Policy Recommendations to Increase Agrivoltaic Development. This release builds on last year’s State and Local Policy Recommendations to Achieve a Smart Solar Buildout by providing principles, guidelines, and a recommended statutory definition for agrivoltaics and related incentives that, if implemented, would help ensure solar development keeps land in production and supports rural farm economies.

AFT projects that, without policy intervention, 83% of new solar capacity will be sited on farmland and ranchland, with nearly half of that on the most productive land. Agrivoltaic development, which integrates agricultural production into solar arrays, is a promising, emerging, and rapidly evolving area of energy development that keeps land in production as domestic energy production increases. But while agrivoltaic projects benefit host communities, they can be more costly than conventional solar to develop. Agrivoltaics currently represent a small share – less than 5% of solar capacity in the U.S. Meanwhile, conventional solar is advancing at a rapid pace. With the right policies in place, it is possible to increase the share of development that is agrivoltaic in order to reduce conversion of farmland and ranchland out of production and benefit local farm economies.

“The idea of agrivoltaics is rapidly gaining attention and interest from farmers, ranchers, elected officials, developers, and many other leaders across the country, but up until now there has not been a recommended standard definition to ensure the ‘agri’ in ‘agrivoltaic’,” said Samantha Levy, AFT’s Senior Policy Manager for Conservation and Energy. “With this new statutory definition and guidance for incentive program design, we hope to increase confidence that, at all levels of government, policymakers can catalyze the growth of this promising new strategy in ways that will truly keep land in production as solar development continues.”

Recent surveys from AFT and the Solar and Storage Industries Institute (SI2) indicate that approximately two-thirds of farmers and ranchers are open to engaging in agrivoltaics production, primarily motivated by supplemental income to support their operation. The solar industry also anticipates future growth, with 80% of solar developers that responded to SI2’s survey indicating that they plan to develop agrivoltaic projects in the future.

Many different programs and policies are already being used effectively across the country and around the world to incentivize agrivoltaic projects, including financial incentives in Massachusetts, reduction of per-acre mitigation fees in New York and Maine, property tax reductions in Colorado, and more. But the definition for what qualifies for such incentives varies widely in each case. To expand development of agrivoltaics, a key pillar of AFT’s Smart Solar principles, research, incentives, and a strong statutory definition that is farm-centered while still encouraging developer innovation are needed.

“AFT’s goals with this work are to ensure that agrivoltaic arrays are designed to maximize the success of farmers working within them, to enhance farm economies, and to expand the breadth of agricultural production systems integrated into solar arrays—from on-farm systems, to community solar, to large-scale utility projects,” said AFT National Smart Solar Director Ethan Winter. “AFT staff have seen firsthand how true agrivoltaic projects can strengthen the economic viability of farms and ranches while at the same time increasing domestic energy production and keeping land in farming.”

AFT identifies agrivoltaic projects as those having two key features:

• Production of marketable agricultural products throughout the full life of the solar array, and
• Intentional design of the solar array, done in consultation with farmers or other experts, to ensure that these systems are constructed, installed, and operated so that land within the array is suitable for agricultural production—with flexibility for the farmer to change what they produce in response to market demand throughout the 30-40 year+ life of the project.

According to AFT, incentive programs will have the highest chance of success at advancing agrivoltaics if they have:

• A clear and strong, farm-centered definition of what qualifies as an agrivoltaic project (like the one AFT is recommending).
• Financial incentives whose size scales up based on 1) the additional cost incurred to modify the array to successfully integrate the agricultural production system, and 2) the percentage of the array in agricultural production.
• Authority and capacity for annual monitoring and compliance, with penalties should the acreage within the array in agricultural production decline or cease.