by GST Staff
This solar farm lets cattle roam under moving panels
SILICON RANCH HAS BROUGHT something online commercially that you don’t see every day: a utility-scale solar farm where cattle graze under moving panels.
The Nashville-based developer has launched its new “CattleTracker” system at the Christiana Solar Ranch in Tennessee. It’s the first commercial deployment of the company’s patented approach to combining solar generation with full-scale beef cattle operations on the same land.
Instead of fencing off solar farms from agriculture, Silicon Ranch is designing its projects to coexist with agriculture. The system uses a custom solar tracker that can shift into a “grazing mode,” giving cattle space to move safely beneath the panels….
Read more: by Michelle Lewis, Electrek.co
They brought 40 sheep to graze near a solar plant, and it quietly began to change how energy is produced
THE FUTURE OF ENERGY is not a choice between the field and the fuel, but a fusion of both.
The evolution of the energy sector is gaining momentum. Developing a cohesive balance with nature is essential.
A solar plant “installed” 40 sheep to graze near the arrays and discovered something fascinating…
Read more: by Warren van der Sandt, Ecoportal.net
Foxes were allowed into a solar farm, and they ended up turning the panels into part of their habitat
IT WASN’T PART of the plan. Solar farms were built to generate clean energy, not to host wildlife. Large, fenced-off areas filled with panels don’t exactly look like a natural habitat.
But when a small, endangered fox was allowed into one of these sites, something unexpected happened…