US President Donald Trump is pulling out all the stops in a supposed attempt to save farmers from the high cost of fuel, but he’s shooting at the wrong target. Instead of wheedling a measly few shiploads of diesel from Russia he should be working to help farmers take advantage of new cash crop opportunities in the agrivoltaic movement. Agrivoltaics is where farmers get solar panels and — oops! We lost him at solar panels. Oh, well…maybe Trump doesn’t like farmers after all…
CleanTechnica has been following the agrivoltaic movement since 2017, when researchers began to compile evidence that arrays of solar panels can be designed to make room for grazing animals and crops, enabling farmers to continue using the land for agriculture. Scaleup has been slow, but indications of a breakthrough began to surface in 2022 when the firm Doral Renewables broke ground on the 1.3 gigawatt Mammoth solar power plant spread among land leased from more than 65 families in Starke and Pulaski counties, in the northwest region of Indiana (see more agrivoltaic background here).
The project was constructed in phases. With the final 900 megawatts taking just 18 months to build, Mammoth checks the speed-to-power box demanded of today’s surging thirst for more electricity.
“In the world of economic development right now, every project is looking for speed to electrons. With demand for electricity skyrocketing, we need every electron we can get on the grid,” Indiana Secretary of Energy Suzanne Jaworowski enthused in a press statement marking the start of commercial operations for the 900-megawatt phase on October 7.
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