Maryland, My Maryland

From Lancaster Farming, Maryland Ag Secretary Wants Solar and Farming to Coexist

Kevin Atticks wants renewable energy to grow in Maryland. But the state’s ag secretary doesn’t want solar panels to rise at the expense of farmers.

“We have to move to renewable energy. That is true. The other thing that’s true is we have to grow food here,” Atticks said Nov. 16 at the University of Maryland’s Agricultural and Environmental Law Conference in Annapolis.

The problem, he said, is that utility-scale solar arrays only make economic sense if they are densely spaced. That doesn’t leave much sunlight for plants or space for farm equipment.

In addition, clearing topsoil appears to be a standard — and not farm-friendly — practice when building solar projects, he said.

Atticks acknowledged that sheep grazing and pollinator plantings are proposed ways for farming to coexist with solar arrays.

“We don’t have an incredibly vibrant sheep industry in the state. But if that’s the answer — if Maryland, due to its energy generation goals, needs to become the nation’s lamb leader — well, that falls under our department to get it done,” Atticks said.

To him, a stronger solution might include incentives that help companies spread out and elevate their panels enough to accommodate farm machinery and livestock other than sheep.

For example, a tax break to put solar panels on buildings might help energy companies afford less dense arrays in fields.

Maryland aims to get at least 14.5% of its electricity from solar by 2028.

That could require 12,000 to 50,000 acres of additional solar, Atticks said. On the high end, that would be 2.5% of the farmland in the state.

To protect farms, counties can’t simply declare they have enough solar. The Public Service Commission can overrule them.

But maybe vertical farms could compensate for the food production lost on fields converted to solar, Atticks said.

At the same time, he said, the Ag Department respects private landowners’ right to put solar on their properties if they choose.

I&I They Razed Paradise And Put Up A Solar Farm

The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Face Time up at The Other McCain.

The Sheep Look Up

And see solar panels. Bay Journal, Sheep and solar panels: Using solar sites for pastureland

With many solar arrays ending up on farmland, a movement is fast taking hold to make sure that they will benefit the environment, agriculture and wildlife, and not just create a sea of silicon.

Allowing sheep to graze among solar panels has become one attractive antidote.

Grazing by sheep and other livestock joins other dual uses: planting groundcover to benefit pollinators, growing marketable plants such as cherry tomatoes and lavender under the panels, installing beehives and maximizing soil health practices to improve the land for later ag use. Projects that combine farming and solar energy are called agrivoltaic.

 

State agencies in Virginia, Maryland and New York have all created pollinator-friendly scorecards for solar developers, underscoring the expectation that environmentally beneficial groundcover will become the norm on both rural and urban solar farms.

“Solar [arrays] on farmland should be required to be dual use,” said Arjun Makhijani, founder of the Maryland-based Institute for Energy and Environmental Research.

The use of solar sites for livestock grazing is still in its infancy, but flocks of sheep are already grazing contentedly under and around glass panels in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland and New York.

 

By welcoming the grazers, solar operators save money on land maintenance. After the cost of leasing the land, vegetation management is often their top expense.

Sheep owners get access to new grazing pastures while receiving payments to boot, adding precious income at a time when many farmers are struggling. Studies find that sheep farmers often are paid $300–$500 an acre.

There are environmental benefits as well. For example, a new study funded by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory found that native vegetation munched on by sheep shows an uptick in carbon capture and improves the soil by increasing the cycling of nutrients, carbon and water.

 

The synergies of grazing and leaving the ground undisturbed can actually improve a farm’s soil during its use as a solar site, according to a study by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, based on solar projects on three Maryland farms. Farmers want and financially need the opportunity, the study said.

Why are sheep the most popular choice, at least for now? Because most solar arrays are too close to the ground to accommodate cattle. A solar project being built in Howard County, MD, though, has panels 6 feet off the ground so cows can graze on hay planted underneath. Goats tend to eat wiring and jump onto the panels. Pigs wallow.

Sheep, on the other hand, fit nicely under the panels, typically built 2–3 feet off the ground, and they keep their heads down for the business at hand. The panels provide shelter and shade. Studies are also finding that vegetation planted for grazing under solar panels helps keep the panels cool, boosting energy production.

While I have no bone to pick with the idea of the dual use, let me point out an inescapable inefficiency. The purpose of solar panels is to intercept solar light, and convert it to electricity. The plants that sheep (or cows or goats or pigs) eat require sunshine to grow. There is, therefore potentially less growth, a lot less growth on a plot of land covered with solar panels, requiring more acreage to support the same amount of sheep than ground not covered with panels.

This just affirms the fact that there is no such thing as free electricty. Besides the not inconsiderable manufacturing costs of solar cell, and the mining and pollution required, solar (and it's renewable relative wind), require huge areas of land be set aside, and restricted to only certain dual uses.

The Wombat has posted Rule 5 Sunday: Anya Forger on time and under budget at The Other McCain.

Hi Ho Silvio, Away!

Former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi (R) holds and
 hugs a lamb as he poses with Michela Vittoria Brambilla,
 animal right activist and member of parliament for
 Berlusconi's Forza Italia party

I've missed Silvio Berlusconi ever since the Eye-talians kick him out of their Senate for tax fraud, hardly a crime at all in Italy. Fortunately, he's back in the news, and, as always, in the company of a beautiful lady: Berlusconi 'saves' Easter lambs, angering Italy's meat lobby

Former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has infuriated Italy's meat industry by joining a vegetarian campaign and "adopting" five lambs that would have been butchered for Easter.

Silvio Berlusconi (R)? What's that all about. But if it comes to that, I encourage him to join the Republicans.

A video by the Italian League in Defense of Animals and the Environment, showing Berlusconi cuddling, kissing and feeding the lambs with a baby's bottle, was circulated widely on social media over the weekend.

The 80-year-old four-times prime minister was filmed in his parkland estate in front of a sign saying "Defend life, choose a vegetarian Easter", while a scrolling message urged viewers to "Be like him. He saved five lambs from the Easter slaughter."

More lamb for me when I visit Italy next month!

Say what you want about his politics, he's got great taste in women.

Previous Berlusconi posts:

Eye-Talians Hava da Besta Scandals
Bonus Berlusconi!
Bunga Bunga, Berlusconi!
Buono Berlusconi!
Berlusconi Forever!
Our Man Berlusconi...
Berlusconi Defense: I Did It For My Country!
Say It Ain't So, Silvo!
Silvio! Silvio!
Tiring of Italy, Burlesconi Set His Sights on Argentina
But, But, But, Berlusconi!
Go, Go Silvio!
Way to Go, Silvio!
Oh No, Silvio!

No, No, No! Not Silvio!

Wombat-socho finally gets around to the long awaited "Rule Five Wednesday: Double-Dip Easter Edition."

The Sheep Look Up

Or get squashed?



That's a heck of a lot of sheep. How do a few guys on horses with dogs keep them moving they way they want to.

The thread title from the John Brunner book. Not as good as "Stand on Zanzibar", but still pretty good. If you're looking for some amusing F&SF, try "The Compleat Traveller in Black."

Ram Tough