WVU researchers to receive $1.6 million grant for sustainable energy research on cattle farms - The Daily Athenaeum - thedaonline

WVU researchers to receive $1.6 million grant for sustainable energy research on cattle farms | WVU News | thedaonline.com

West Virginia University animal and agricultural scientists were recently awarded $1.6 million from the Department of Energy for their proposal of research regarding adding solar energy to cattle farms.

The proposal entails placing two separate types of solar panels on cattle farms to see the impacts on animal performance, soil health and water content within the soil.

Matt Wilson, professor of animal sciences in the WVU Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design and founder of the Alliance for Regenerative Livestock, said the research is centered around the impact of solar panels on cattle land, specifically the amount of energy produced and if this can make cattle farms more sustainable.

The lab Alliance for Regenerative Livestock is focused on the idea of making farms more sustainable and profitable.

“We have two different kinds of solar infrastructure, one of the traditional flat panels that you would commonly see out in the world. The second is going to be some type of novel approach that allows water and sunlight to penetrate the panel,” Wilson said. “We wanna know do they produce the same amount of energy? Do they do it in a way that is less detrimental or causes less disturbance in the soil hydrology?”

This research began four years ago when Wilson’s lab began collecting data using a prototype system that allows them to find body weights and water intakes of animals every time they drink.

“From that we built a system that allows us to determine what an animal eats every day when they’re grazing. We are now in a phase of trying to apply that tool to interesting questions,” Wilson said. “One of the questions that's really been bubbling out there in the field in the last number of years is how do animals that graze perform if they graze in and around solar panels? So that’s what led us to applying to the DOE grant to get funding for our research.”

Although the team was selected for the grant roughly a month ago, the funding will begin in January of 2025, where the infrastructure will be deployed to the site of the research. The research will continue throughout the grazing seasons of 2025, 2026 and 2027.

“We will collect data about not only how productive the solar infrastructure is, how much electricity there is, but we will also quantify the impact of those solar infrastructure on soil health, plants that are growing from that soil and then the animals themselves,” Wilson said.

Researchers hypothesize that the solar energy will be beneficial to both animals and the environment, and that it will provide a new stream of revenue for farmers by offsetting utility bills and providing more energy for other areas of the farm.

“Our hypothesis is that there won’t be negative impacts on the animals and there is reason to believe it might positively impact the animals as well as revenue” Wilson said.

Wilson said that the research also aims to create a new generation of farmers and careers in agriculture.

“I think going down a road of adding technology and adding potential income streams to agricultural operations could attract a younger workforce to do that as a career,” stated Wilson. “I think it could have a great societal benefit to be able to get more people in these careers because at the end of the day, we all have to eat.”

Wilson’s team has also begun training graduate and undergraduate students who have an interest in both agriculture and solar energy. He explained that having individuals understand both domains has great value for the farms and society.