Sheep flock around solar panels on expansive Climax farm. They are 4-legged lawnmowers.

CLIMAX — Sheep run around — and under — solar panels on a massive 1,500-acre facility on a recent Friday afternoon.

The flock has one purpose. They are four-legged lawnmowers.

It’s a program Dominion Energy started in 2023. A few weeks ago, the sheep moved in at Maplewood Solar, which is the largest facility Dominion has throughout the state.

Up and down Climax Road, the panels stretch as far as the eye can see on both sides of the road.

Construction started on the project in 2020, according to the facility’s webpage.

The idea of solar was hotly contested when it first surfaced in Pittsylvania County and has only grown since. With farms popping up, supervisors eventually curtailed the percentage of area available in each district, essentially halting future development.

In all, there are 336,432 solar panels that make up the expansive 120-megawatt solar complex in Climax. At peak output, it produces enough electricity to power 30,000 homes or businesses, according to Tim Eberly, a spokesperson for Dominion Energy.

Known as solar grazing, the energy company — with 70 solar farms across Virginia — first got involved with it in 2023.

It started at smaller sites, Eberly explained on a tour of the cite and critters recently.

“No. 1 because we needed to learn how to scale up the operation,” he said of launching it in other areas. “We were slowly scaling up.”

There were 256 sheep grazing on March 14. Two had just been born the day before.

In fact, 150 of the animals were pregnant.

The sheep provide an alternative option to mechanical mowing, a process in itself difficult around the large panel structures. It also can be dangerous if a mower hurls a rock at one of the panels.

The mowing isn’t because of aesthetics. The main goal is to reduce the risk of fires.

“Each farm has its own emergency plan and that would include what to do in the event of a fire,” Eberly explained when asked what would happen if a blaze were to break out. “We also reach out to the local authorities, the fire department and share the emergency plan with them.”

Marcus Gray, of Gray’s Lambscaping, lives a few miles from the solar farm. Along with is wife, Jess, they have sheep at different solar sites throughout Virginia.

They are on track to have about 400 in the Climax area project as things “green up” more in the spring.

Gray explained that he doesn’t want to overstock the flock because the idea is to maintain the vegetation.

“It’s a dance all the time,” he said. “It’s a balancing act for how many animals.”

After a solar site is established, about 80% of the work is vegetation maintenance.

“A lot of people that do this out west, California, Arizona, its fire mitigation entirely,” he said of the animals.

Sheep, known for not being picky eaters, are preferred over goats. Grazing goats could keep the grass cut, but they would also be jumping on the panels and trying to chew the wiring.

“We’ve never lost a sheep to the equipment,” Gray explained walking through the panels recently.

On that tour, Gray said although the panels were safe, he advised that none of the equipment should be touched.

The panels move and track with the sun, Eberly explained. Inverters around the site convert the power generated by solar to a version that can be pushed onto the electrical grid.

“When you walk out there, they are so quiet,” he explained of the panels lined in multiple rows. “They don’t make any noise.”

Starting with just 25 sheep, Gray plans to have about 1,000 this year on Dominion sites.

“We are breeding for sheep that do better in this system,” he said, explaining that the panels provide shelter for the creatures.

“They do really well,” Gray continued. “They thrive out here.”

The sheep stay on the site all year, even in the winter. Sometimes they may have to bring in hay to supplement the grass when the weather turns harsh.

When walking up to the flock, Trip — a trained border collie — runs behind to keep them from shifting. Trip, 4 years old, is one of five trained dogs Gray has.

“They are docile, so they aren’t going to knock anybody down,” Gray said of the sheep.

Living on site are other dogs that protect the cuddly lawnmowers from predators like bears, coyotes, bobcats and some birds.

Born just south of Richmond, Gray and his wife were living out of state when they had the opportunity to purchase the local farm in 2021.

“Our family has been farming in Virginia since before the revolution,” he said. “We like Virginia.”

Gray called the solar grazing program a boon for farming.

The landowners get a rental for the ground since Dominion didn’t buy the property.

“There’s that economic driver,” he explained.

“Then we get to come in as a third party to farm on it,” he continued. “So we are stacking economic value for the community.”

In turn, that means Gray’s Lambscaping — the deliberate play on words — can sponsor his daughter’s softball team.

If not for the solar avenue, he wouldn’t be able to afford the land needed for sheep grazing.

“Solar grazing is just an immense opportunity for our farm and community,” he said. “There is a whole economy that comes with sheep razing at scale.”

For this particular farm, given its sheer size and spanning both sides of the road, the sheep have to be corralled and loaded into a trailer to move from one space to another.

There are 15 of those individual areas, called paddocks.

Depending on the time of year and number of sheep, a flock could stay in one for up to two weeks or as little as a few days.

“For the most part, the group sticks together,” Eberly said of the flock.

The exception on the recent visit was the mother and her two new lambs. They were off from the group for what Gray called bonding.

Since the animals are moving, it helps keep the parasite burden low.

A veterinarian comes to visit four times a year and will respond “immediately” if there’s a problem. The vet performs inspections and keeps the animals updated with vaccines.

“They are really healthy, they do really well,” he said.

Being low to the ground, the 150-pound animals can easily move under the solar panels.

The sheep are of different ages, and they eat pretty much anything that’s out there. This rolling land area is full of fescue and clover.

It’s not unusual for people to do a double take at the sheep, especially around the high-tech devices.

“We talk to a lot of people,” Gray said. “Especially when moving the sheep.”

Although it’s possible to completely eliminate mechanical mowing, Eberly said the goal is to reach a 75-25 ratio where the sheep are doing three-quarters of the work.

Eberly touted the program as “agrivoltaics.”

“It’s a fancy word that means pairing solar energy with an agricultural use,” he said.

There’s another pilot program near Charlottesville using beehives.

“This kind of gives us a chance to get more out of the land,” Eberly said.

In another mix of old and new technology, Gray pulled out his cellphone and swiped on an app. That emitted a tone to a device around the neck of the resident dog, in this case, as a signal to leave the shepherding canine alone.

“It’s really training to keep him on the farm,” he said.