Construction is underway on a $1.5 million project that will allow Oregon State University researchers to further optimize agrivoltaic systems that involve co-developing land for both solar photovoltaic power and agriculture.
The five-acre Solar Harvest project is located at Oregon State’s North Willamette Research and Extension Center in Aurora, Oregon, 20 miles south of Portland. It is the result of a partnership between Oregon State and the Oregon Clean Power Cooperative, which developed the solar array, and whose members financed construction of the solar array.
Additional financing for construction came from a grant from Portland General Electric’s Renewable Development Fund, and an investment by the Roundhouse Foundation.
“There has been a huge increase in interest in agrivoltaics just in the past few years,” said Chad Higgins, an associate professor in Oregon State’s College of Agricultural Sciences who is leading the effort to construct the farm.
Read More at: Oregon State University
sheep and solar panels (Photo Credit: Chad Higgins)