About this course
With lofty clean energy goals cropping up across the United States and the world, communities are looking for ways to maximize the benefits of solar energy deployment in their locale. The co-location of solar and beneficial agriculture, or agrivoltaics, is a growing field within solar development.
In this introductory agrivoltaics course, Byron Kominek, founder of Jack's Solar Garden and co-founder of the Colorado Agrivoltaics Learning Center, joins us to explain the benefits of responsible land management practices for community solar gardens. Jack's Solar Garden is the largest commercially active agrivoltaics system researching a variety of crop and vegetation growth under solar panels not just in Colorado, but in the US!
Learning Objectives
- Define agrivoltaics
- Describe the key considerations when exploring agrivoltaic projects
- Examine the benefits of co-locating agriculture and solar
- Gain an understanding of what is possible within an agrivoltaic project
Course outline
Module 1 • 3 assignments
Agrivoltaics with Bryon of Jack's Solar Garden
- Agrivoltaics at Jack's Solar Garden (32:10 minutes)
- Jack's Solar Garden
- Colorado Agrivoltaic Learning Center
Module 2 • 5 assignments
Learn More about Agrivoltaics
- AgriVoltaics Conference
- AgriSolar Clearinghouse
- Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE
- American Solar Grazing Association (ASGA)
- The potential of agrivoltaic systems (.pdf)
Author
Byron Kominek
Byron Kominek is the owner and manager of Jack's Solar Garden, a 1.2 MW community solar garden showcasing how to integrate crops, people, pollinators, and research into one site. Byron also leads the Colorado Agrivoltaic Learning Center based at Jack's Solar Garden to provide educational opportunities to students, community members, and policymakers. Byron is not a...
