A Public-Private Partnership to Develop Agrivoltaics in the US Midwest
The expansion of solar energy at a utility scale in the Midwest of the USA will include land currently being used for farming. This development does not have to remove this land from agricultural use, if agrivoltaic practices are considered. However, there is a lack of data and recommendations fo...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
TIB Open Publishing
2025-07-01
|
| Series: | AgriVoltaics Conference Proceedings |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.tib-op.org/ojs/index.php/agripv/article/view/1403 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1850097461180235776 |
|---|---|
| author | Matthew O'Neal Nick Petersen Liang Dong Hongli Feng Anne Kimber Raymond Klein Ajay Nair Suzanne Slack John Tyndall Hugo Villegas |
| author_facet | Matthew O'Neal Nick Petersen Liang Dong Hongli Feng Anne Kimber Raymond Klein Ajay Nair Suzanne Slack John Tyndall Hugo Villegas |
| author_sort | Matthew O'Neal |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
The expansion of solar energy at a utility scale in the Midwest of the USA will include land currently being used for farming. This development does not have to remove this land from agricultural use, if agrivoltaic practices are considered. However, there is a lack of data and recommendations for how solar facilities can be used for agricultural purposes. To address this gap, Iowa State University (ISU) and Alliant Energy have entered into a public-private partnership to explore the agronomic, economic and social aspects of agrivoltaic practices. This partnership models future interactions between landowner and utility companies interested in siting solar farms on land currently used for agricultural purposes. In this presentation, we describe how this partnership was developed and led to the construction of a solar farm that can measure both the value of crop production and the impact of understory vegetation on energy production. Through a series of meetings with Alliant Energy representatives and faculty at ISU, a site design was implemented, officially titled the Alliant Energy Solar Farm at Iowa State University. We summarize preliminary results from our initial field season, noting how a common vegetable crop, summer squash, was produced and responded to the conditions at this solar farm.
|
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-4857de5e3a8e4b9da3578636af3d0a1f |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2751-6172 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | TIB Open Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | AgriVoltaics Conference Proceedings |
| spelling | doaj-art-4857de5e3a8e4b9da3578636af3d0a1f2025-08-20T02:40:58ZengTIB Open PublishingAgriVoltaics Conference Proceedings2751-61722025-07-01310.52825/agripv.v3i.1403A Public-Private Partnership to Develop Agrivoltaics in the US MidwestMatthew O'Neal0Nick Petersen1Liang Dong2Hongli Feng3Anne Kimber4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6658-9060Raymond Klein5Ajay Nair6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6360-9556Suzanne Slack7John Tyndall8https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7197-1929Hugo Villegas9Iowa State UniversityAlliant Energy (United States)Iowa State UniversityIowa State UniversityIowa State UniversityIowa State UniversityIowa State UniversityIowa State UniversityIowa State UniversityIowa State University The expansion of solar energy at a utility scale in the Midwest of the USA will include land currently being used for farming. This development does not have to remove this land from agricultural use, if agrivoltaic practices are considered. However, there is a lack of data and recommendations for how solar facilities can be used for agricultural purposes. To address this gap, Iowa State University (ISU) and Alliant Energy have entered into a public-private partnership to explore the agronomic, economic and social aspects of agrivoltaic practices. This partnership models future interactions between landowner and utility companies interested in siting solar farms on land currently used for agricultural purposes. In this presentation, we describe how this partnership was developed and led to the construction of a solar farm that can measure both the value of crop production and the impact of understory vegetation on energy production. Through a series of meetings with Alliant Energy representatives and faculty at ISU, a site design was implemented, officially titled the Alliant Energy Solar Farm at Iowa State University. We summarize preliminary results from our initial field season, noting how a common vegetable crop, summer squash, was produced and responded to the conditions at this solar farm. https://www.tib-op.org/ojs/index.php/agripv/article/view/1403Utility ScaleHorticultureBeekeeping |
| spellingShingle | Matthew O'Neal Nick Petersen Liang Dong Hongli Feng Anne Kimber Raymond Klein Ajay Nair Suzanne Slack John Tyndall Hugo Villegas A Public-Private Partnership to Develop Agrivoltaics in the US Midwest AgriVoltaics Conference Proceedings Utility Scale Horticulture Beekeeping |
| title | A Public-Private Partnership to Develop Agrivoltaics in the US Midwest |
| title_full | A Public-Private Partnership to Develop Agrivoltaics in the US Midwest |
| title_fullStr | A Public-Private Partnership to Develop Agrivoltaics in the US Midwest |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Public-Private Partnership to Develop Agrivoltaics in the US Midwest |
| title_short | A Public-Private Partnership to Develop Agrivoltaics in the US Midwest |
| title_sort | public private partnership to develop agrivoltaics in the us midwest |
| topic | Utility Scale Horticulture Beekeeping |
| url | https://www.tib-op.org/ojs/index.php/agripv/article/view/1403 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT matthewoneal apublicprivatepartnershiptodevelopagrivoltaicsintheusmidwest AT nickpetersen apublicprivatepartnershiptodevelopagrivoltaicsintheusmidwest AT liangdong apublicprivatepartnershiptodevelopagrivoltaicsintheusmidwest AT honglifeng apublicprivatepartnershiptodevelopagrivoltaicsintheusmidwest AT annekimber apublicprivatepartnershiptodevelopagrivoltaicsintheusmidwest AT raymondklein apublicprivatepartnershiptodevelopagrivoltaicsintheusmidwest AT ajaynair apublicprivatepartnershiptodevelopagrivoltaicsintheusmidwest AT suzanneslack apublicprivatepartnershiptodevelopagrivoltaicsintheusmidwest AT johntyndall apublicprivatepartnershiptodevelopagrivoltaicsintheusmidwest AT hugovillegas apublicprivatepartnershiptodevelopagrivoltaicsintheusmidwest AT matthewoneal publicprivatepartnershiptodevelopagrivoltaicsintheusmidwest AT nickpetersen publicprivatepartnershiptodevelopagrivoltaicsintheusmidwest AT liangdong publicprivatepartnershiptodevelopagrivoltaicsintheusmidwest AT honglifeng publicprivatepartnershiptodevelopagrivoltaicsintheusmidwest AT annekimber publicprivatepartnershiptodevelopagrivoltaicsintheusmidwest AT raymondklein publicprivatepartnershiptodevelopagrivoltaicsintheusmidwest AT ajaynair publicprivatepartnershiptodevelopagrivoltaicsintheusmidwest AT suzanneslack publicprivatepartnershiptodevelopagrivoltaicsintheusmidwest AT johntyndall publicprivatepartnershiptodevelopagrivoltaicsintheusmidwest AT hugovillegas publicprivatepartnershiptodevelopagrivoltaicsintheusmidwest |