Agrivoltaics Focus Group happening on Thursday

Imagine nipping into a cool, crisp grape grown on Colorado’s Western Slope, where water disappears into the adobes faster than it falls. Those grapes may come from an agrivoltaic farm — a place where solar and agriculture combine to create a new shaded ecology, increasing water efficiency, soil health and food value.

On Thursday, May 15, scientists, producers, solar specialists and individuals will explore what that could look like during the Western Slope Agrivoltaics Focus Group at Colorado State University’s (CSU) Western Colorado Research Center on Orchard Mesa.

The free, half-day event, a partnership between CSU and AgriSolar Consulting, “will delve into the intersection of agriculture and solar energy,” according to the Eventbrite listing.

Thomas Hickey, research associate and project manager at AgriSolar said, “We have a full line-up for the morning event, including people from Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, American Farmland TRust, CSU Extension, and Shavano Conservation District.”

The day will begin with an indoor gathering at 9 a.m. where attendees will learn about the research being done onsite, including Horst Caspari’s plan for a combined vineyard — solar operation and will lead to a tour of the agrivoltaic site-to-be. The focus group discussion will follow and, depending on the number of people, may split into smaller groups. The morning will wrap up with a look at agrivoltaics around the world and in Colorado. The session will close at 1 p.m.

“We will be keeping it as real as possible,” said Hickey. “Focusing on things that are happening now.”

And what’s happening now at CSU’s research center at Orchard Mesa is a project co-locating grape vines and solar panels, led by Caspari, who has been researching viticulture on the Western Slope, particularly in Palisade, for years.

Alexis Pascaris, founding director of AgriSolar Consulting, is a social scientist. She oversees the projects but focuses on stakeholders and their involvement using focus groups to learn what producers need and how CSU and the Colorado Department of Agriculture (CDA) can help.

“This particular event is about rallying around producers,” Pascaris said. “We want to stimulate important dialogue about agrivoltaics, increase producers’ access to the technology, and boost the information and resource exchange so they can make better decisions and know who to go to with questions.”

Barclay and Tony Daranyi, at Indian Ridge Farm outside of Norwood, Colorado, set up a small ground-mounted agrivoltaic site 11 years ago, before the practice was a hot topic. The 10-kilowatt, 52-panel system powers their farm and provides shade for their layer hens. They funded the project through San Miguel Power Association and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

While the Daranyis aren’t a part of the focus group happening this week, their local project is a demonstration of how to combine agriculture and small-scale solar power, which is also being done on a commercial scale on the Front Range, at Jack’s Solar Garden in Longmont.

With enough solar panels to power 300 homes, “Jack’s Solar Garden is the country’s premier site for agrivoltaics and the most visited solar array in the USA,” according to jackssolargarden.com.

“Jack’s Solar Garden is a national model for governments, solar developers and farmers for how to produce renewable energy while continuing agricultural production via agrivoltaics,” the website said.

AgriSolar is hosting a second focus group at Jack’s on June 3, for those interested in attending a working solar and agriculture partnership on the Front Range.

Large-scale, commercial applications are the main focus of both focus groups, but small-scale applications are also possible.

Reed Irwin of Montrose will be attending both focus groups. A retired United States Forest Service employee, Irwin has dedicated himself to soil health and agrivoltaics in the past few years.

As a member of the Shavano Conservation District’s Soil Health Working Group, he’s paying attention to the benefit of agrivoltaics on soil health.

“There are a lot of benefits from including solar in agriculture,” he said. “One advantage for operations like Horst’s, where the grapes are in the shade of the solar panels, is a cooler environment for workers as well as grapes.”

Irwin also noted other studies that have been done on the higher nutritional value of greens grown in the shade of solar panels at Jack’s versus those grown in the open.

As part of their research projects and information offered, AgriSolar is also working on a new tool — Farmland Solar Technical Assistance and Education (FASTER) — that allows users to click on a Colorado county and learn about solar regulations for that area.

“The FASTER tool is an easy way to learn about your own county codes and other information,” Hickey said. “There are dropdowns to toggle extra layers of information, and a feedback button we encourage visitors to use. We’re open to hear it all.”

The FASTER tool can be found at agrisolarconsulting.com’s “about” page. For more information on the Shavano Conservation District’s work, please visit shavanocd.org.

The Western Slope Agrivoltaics Focus Group on May 15 is open to agricultural producers, land owners, and agricultural organizations and will include lay individuals and experts.

The event takes place at the Western Colorado Research Center on Orchard Mesa at 3170 B 1/2 Rd, Grand Junction, CO, 81503, from 9 a.m. — 1 p.m. To learn more and to find the EventBrite registration, visit TriRiver Area CSU Extension’s Facebook page. Future event dates and research center news is available at agsci.colostate.edu, including an upcoming field day later this summer once Caspari’s viticulture solar project is built out.