By Greg Brophy
Over the previous 15 years, the Eastern Plains of Colorado have seen a significant growth of wind vitality tasks, injecting billions of {dollars} into native economies.
In the approaching years, nevertheless, one other renewable vitality supply – solar energy – may turn into extra seen in Eastern Colorado.
To be clear, these new photo voltaic services have a a lot decrease profile than the wind farms that span tens of 1000’s of acres in areas like Logan, Lincoln, Kit Carson, Cheyenne and Elbert. counties. But despite the fact that the footprint of those photo voltaic tasks is smaller, they nonetheless symbolize a
essential new financial driver for rural communities – and the subsequent part of Eastern Colorado’s “all-of-the-above” strategy to vitality.
instance of the kind of photo voltaic growth that may be anticipated in Eastern Colorado will be present in Morgan County. Overlooking Interstate 76 in Brush, a neighborhood photo voltaic facility has been working since 2020.
The photo voltaic facility is a joint challenge between Pivot Energy, an impartial renewable vitality developer, and the state’s largest utility firm, Xcel Energy.
The challenge permits properties, companies and even native governments to turn into members – or subscribers – of the photo voltaic challenge. They obtain a share of the electrical energy produced by the power, which is credited to their electrical energy payments.
The challenge permits customers who do not or do not need to set up photo voltaic panels immediately on their properties the chance to purchase renewable electrical energy immediately if they need. This is a superb possibility for renters – together with many companies that hire somewhat than personal their premises.
Due to the decreased value of electrical energy from photo voltaic panels, subscribing to neighborhood photo voltaic additionally saves customers cash in comparison with merely buying energy from the broader grid.
This is among the the explanation why early subscribers to the Brush neighborhood photo voltaic challenge embody the City of Brush, the Brush School District, Weldon Valley School District, Eben Ezer Lutheran Care Center and the East Morgan County Library District, together with a lot of native residents.
Pivot Energy and different neighborhood photo voltaic backyard builders are eyeing new tasks for Morgan County and different Eastern Plains communities. Besides the vitality they produce and the financial increase they supply, there may be another excuse to look ahead to these tasks – the potential for one thing referred to as “agrivoltaics.”
The time period agrivoltaics refers back to the integration of solar energy technology, farming and livestock on the identical land. In sensible phrases, agrivoltaics refers to constructing photo voltaic panels excessive sufficient above floor in order that vegetation can develop and animals can graze within the shade under.
Like leasing mineral rights to an oil and gasoline developer, or internet hosting wind generators, farmers and ranchers who can host photo voltaic tasks can faucet into an essential new supply of revenue.
When the photo voltaic panels are strategically positioned and raised, they create dappled shade, fostering distinctive microclimates throughout the agricultural area. This opens the doorways to cultivating a greater variety of crops or elevating completely different livestock, maximizing the potential of the land. The shade of the panels additionally helps to cut back the water wanted for irrigation.
Interestingly, pilot tasks have proven that vegetation rising beneath the panels present a cooling impact, which in flip improves the effectivity of the photo voltaic panels themselves, permitting them to generate extra electrical energy.
Only time will inform if new photo voltaic tasks being thought-about for Morgan County and different elements of the Eastern Plains will undertake agrivoltaic practices like these. Agrivoltaics could be very early in growth, there may be nonetheless important analysis to be carried out, and never all landowners want or need to co-locate photo voltaic panels with their crops or livestock.
But simply as Eastern Plains communities have expanded oil, gasoline and wind vitality growth whereas preserving their agricultural character, it is clear they’ll do the identical with photo voltaic.
After all, discovering new methods to generate extra revenue from the identical land is the muse of farming and ranching communities. Solar tasks could also be only one extra possibility for landowners to contemplate as they attempt to make their operations extra worthwhile.