October 21, 2021

Sheep + Solar, A Love Story

36 minutes

We all know that a key part of addressing climate change involves getting off fossil fuels. But renewable energies, such as solar energy, are not without costs. One key cost? It uses a lot of land. We take a look at one creative solution to this problem – mixing solar panels with agriculture. And we are not at all sheepish about the role of one very adorable four legged animal.

Guests: Judy St. Leger, Keith Hevnor, Lexie Hain, Byron Kominek

Calls to Action

If you are a sheep grazer looking to get into solar, or a solar developer in search of a good shepherd, check out the American Solar Grazing Association’s website for resources.

You can learn about the blueberry work that Lily Calderwood from the University of Maine is working on here, and theUniversity of Massachusetts Extension's program work with cranberry and solar panels here.

Judy St. Leger's farm is Dutch Barn Farm, Lexie Hain's solar grazing business is Agrovoltaic Solutions, the solar company that Keith Hevnor works for is Nexamp, Byron Kominek's is Jack's Solar Garden. If you're in Colorado, you can arrange to tour Jack's Solar Garden.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced funding for a new to optimized design for “agrivoltaic” systems. It's a four year project that you can learn more about here

Check out our Calls to Action archive for all of the actions we've recommended on the show. Send us your ideas or feedback with our Listener Mail Form. Sign up for our newsletter here. And follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

This episode was produced by Kendra Pierre-Louis. Our producers are Anna Ladd, Rachel Waldholz and Hannah Chinn. Our intern is Nicole Welch. Our supervising producer is Lauren Silverman and Katelyn Bogucki. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard with original music by Peter Leonard, Catherine Anderson, and Emma Munger. Our fact checker this episode is James Gaines.

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