From all around the world: US solar grazing undergoing rapid growth

Over 113,000 sheep grazed through fields of solar panels on 129,000 acres of land, found the United States Solar Grazing 2024 Census by the U.S. Department of Energy National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the American Solar Grazing Association (ASGA). The census was the first time a broadly organized effort was dedicated to capturing the full scope and scale of solar grazing in the United States, according to ASGA and NREL.

“The scale of solar grazing in the U.S. is much larger than previously understood and undergoing rapid growth,” ASGA and NREL said in the report.

ASGA and NREL attributed the magnitude to a recent exponential expansion of solar grazing in tandem with the rise in installed solar in the U.S. About 18 GW to 26 GW of power per acre were grazed in 2024, ASGA and NREL estimated.

Solar grazing is the most widespread form of agrivoltaics, according to ASGA. Agrivoltaics is the practice of co-locating solar facilities and agricultural production, which provides the landowner not only with two sources of income for one plot of land, but research finds it often benefits the agricultural production, such as healthier soil and food for sheep grazing, and growing conditions for horticultural crops and beekeeping production.

Over 50% of respondents were financially motivated, the report said, and environmental benefits were the next largest motivating factor to begin solar grazing.

As one grazer cited in the report, said that grazing was, “the only way I was able to be profitable as a livestock producer and first-generation farmer with no access to land/inherited property.”

Nearly 62% of the solar grazers reported providing additional services to solar sites, including mowing, complete vegetation management, weeding and fencing.

A successful partnership with solar projects relies on a variety of factors, but the most common factor the grazers said characterizes a successful partnership is one that is mutually beneficial (38%) followed by good communication (23%).

California had the most solar-grazed sites with 82 sites, followed by Texas at 55. Regionally, however, the Midwest and the Northeast had the most overall solar-grazed sites with 148 and 145 sites, respectively.

Over 40% of the respondents said they grazed utility-scale solar sites, but community solar projects was nearly just as common.

Most of the respondents (87%) said they had grazing experience outside of solar. Though women only made up 34% of solar grazers, ASGA said this third is a “significant” proportion for the agricultural sector.

This year’s 2024 report is ASGA’s first census and was supported by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

According to NREL, more than 230 sites in the United States are being managed by solar grazing, which NREL maps and maintains a database for the public.

NREL maintains a database and a map of U.S. sites that are being managed by solar grazing, which currently identifies more than 230 of these solar sites.

This was ASGA and NREL’s first census survey, so along with their lessons learned from the process, the report said NREL and ASGA intends to continue “tracking the evolution of U.S. solar grazing in the coming years.”

The census surveyed 127 respondents, 67 of which said they were currently active solar grazers, followed by a second round to clarify and get more detail from the 67 active grazers.

The research received funding from the InSPIRE project through the U S Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office.