Feeding a growing world is the agriculture industry's future, and the demand for sustainability is here.
One avenue of exploration includes agrivoltaics or solar energy within production agriculture. Agrivoltaics combines solar panels for electricity generation within agricultural production to improve land use efficiency and farmer incomes. Learn more about the field, current research, and be a part of the solar discussion by attending the field day on July 24 in Urbana.
Agrivoltaics Field Day Agenda:
9:30 to 10:00 a.m. – Registration
10:00 – Welcome
Presenter: College of ACES
10:05 – Introduction
Presenter: Madhu Khanna, PI SCAPES project and director, iSEE
10:10 – Economics of Agrivoltaic Installations in the Midwest
Presenter: Madhu Khanna, PI SCAPES project and director, iSEE
10:30 – SCAPES Research Overview
Presenter: Carl Bernacchi, professor, crop sciences and plant biology
10:45 – The Potential of Agronomic Crops in Agrivoltaics
Presenter: D.K. Lee, agronomy assistant professor, Extension specialist
11:00 – The Potential of Specialty Crops in Agrivoltaics
Presenter: Bruce Branham, professor, Extension specialist
11:15 – System considerations of PV in Agrivoltaic systems
Presenter: Alex Solecki, graduate student, SCAPES
11:30 – Practical Insights into Agrivoltaic Implementation
Presenter: Dennis Bowman, Extension digital agriculture specialist
11:45 – Tour of the Solar Farm 2.0 agronomic agrivoltaic plot
Presenter: Greg Landes, D.K. Lee, and Bruce Branham, Solar Farm 2.0
The field day allows attendees to see an agrivoltaics system and ask questions to better understand the possibilities of combining agronomic crops with solar power generation to improve farmers’ economic incomes and resilience.
There is no cost or registration to attend the field day. CPDUs and CEUs are available for those who qualify. The event is grant-funded and hosted by the Department of Crop Sciences, part of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, SCAPES, Illinois Extension, and the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment.
About the SCAPES Research Project
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is part of the SCAPES, Sustainably Collocating Agricultural and Photovoltaic Electricity Systems, project funded by USDA-NIFA to study agrivoltaics at three locations in Illinois, Arizona, and Colorado. The Illinois location of the project specifically focuses on the potential of combining agronomic crops such as soybeans, sorghum, and pasture crops with solar power generation.