UMN Morris Combines Cows and Solar on Midwest’s Largest Agrivoltaic Pasture – Agweek

MORRIS, Minn. — The sound of electricity whirring in the background as cows chew their cud and swipe their tails under a sunny sky near the University of Minnesota in Morris.

With organic dairy cows grazing in the shade of hundreds of solar panels, the scene was one that a group of students, workers, politicians and the public could admire as they celebrated the grand opening of the largest agrivoltaic pasture in the Midwest.

Agrivoltaics is where energy and agriculture coexist on the same land. This could include growing crops or pollinator habitats or raising livestock among solar panels. Solar panels can shade crops in the cool season and retain moisture in the soil, which can be beneficial to plants. They can also provide shade for cattle on hot days.

A solar array in Morris now provides 500 kW of electricity to the University of Minnesota Morris campus — and more shade for the West Central Research and Outreach Center dairy herd. The campus is carbon neutral thanks to these advances in on-site energy production.

The ability to use the land for agriculture and energy could mean an increase in farm income. That’s something that’s making farmers take a closer look at the project. Another key element of the innovation is that placing the solar panels in pastures, where they can benefit cattle, means they’re not being placed on prime farmland, a point that’s been raised by both Minnesota Sen. Torrey Westrom and Rep. Paul Anderson, both Republicans who represent District 12, where Morris lives.

Morris University Chancellor Janet Schrunk Ericksen called the latest addition another step in making the campus more sustainable. Morris Campus Student Association President Riley Tollefsrud said the university’s efforts to build a greener future have been recognized by the student body.

Morris Vice Chancellor for Finance and Facilities Bryan Herrmann said some contractors told them that installing solar panels 8 feet off the ground wouldn’t work, but that it had to work to graze cattle underneath. So they found solar contractor Energy Concepts in Hudson, Wis., which drove metal posts 8 feet into the ground to support the panels, with the leading edge 8 feet off the ground without using a concrete foundation. That choice was pleasing to the participants because it meant that when the solar panels one day reached the end of their useful life, they could choose to pull out the metal supports and easily reclaim the land.

“The challenges of being 8 feet off the ground certainly added to the difficulty of the project,” said Russell Gilberg, president of Energy Concepts, an electrical engineer and graduate of the University of Minnesota.

There was concern that the posts would not provide enough support. When a storm came with 80-mile-per-hour winds that damaged nearby trees and structures, the solar panels were unaffected.

“What makes these systems stand up to these conditions? Really good structural engineering,” Gilberg said. The posts are rated for the extreme conditions you might expect on site. The panels are angled to maximize solar production. Shade is a byproduct of that. The panels are spaced so that a shadow doesn’t fall on another panel during the lower sun angles of winter.

Getting to the point where this solar array, as well as two wind turbines, are providing power to the campus has been a long process. UMN West Central Research and Outreach Center COO Mike Reese has been behind the work since 2001 as WCROC’s director of renewable energy. He has overseen more than $18 million in research and demonstration projects, including wind power, biomass gasification, renewable hydrogen and ammonia, and solar energy systems. Combining agriculture and energy technology is often described as something that can’t be done.

Reese ponders what President John F. Kennedy had to say on the subject.

“We don’t do this because it’s easy. We do it because it’s hard,” Reese said. “That’s a huge challenge for us to be able to combine sustainable agriculture, sustainable energy and look not just to the future, but five, 10, 20, 50 years from now, what impact we’ve had.”

Reese said people from all over the world regularly visit the site to see how they’ve figured it out. According to Reese and Westrom, the plan started 20 years ago on a napkin. Westrom said there was interest in creating this unique place in Morris, and he was on board because he believes in diversifying options, comparing it to starting a successful pension fund.

“You diversify. There’s some risk. There’s some stability,” Westrom said. “We know what works well. Those steady investments, but we also need to promote those renewable opportunities.”

Westrom admitted that we have been waiting for this for a long time, but there are still many things that we cannot even imagine.

The latest set was made possible with funding from the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources. While energy projects directly benefit the Morris campus, the goal is to be a resource for the state, the nation and the world on how this type of project might work elsewhere.

The agrivoltaics research project began in 2019 with a 30-kW system in a pasture where 12 cows had access to the panels and another 12 cows didn’t. A 220-kW system followed. Construction of an additional 280 kW of solar panels was underway this summer at the West Central Research and Outreach Center. The new panels are double-sided, meaning they can absorb light reflected off the ground from both the bottom and the top of the panel. This should be especially productive when the ground is covered in snow.

Brad Heins, assistant professor of organic dairy management in the Department of Animal Science, is leading much of the research on how energy and agriculture can work together. He said that when they started, the state had sheep under solar panels but no cows.

Results from the 28-day study with the first solar installation showed there was no difference in milk production between the two groups. The group with access to solar panels was dirtier; however, researchers attributed this to increased humidity or manure accumulation under the solar panels.

The main difference between the two groups was that the unshaded group had a higher respiratory rate (78 breaths per minute versus 66) and higher body temperature (1 degree Fahrenheit higher) than the unshaded group. This led the researchers to believe that the solar panels could reduce heat stress in cattle using the shade of the panels.

When asked if a one-degree difference was a big deal, Heins clearly stated that it was no small issue for cow comfort.

“That 1 degree is actually a big difference,” Heins said. “It can have pretty big consequences on milk production. So if we can reduce heat stress, we can increase milk production, we can increase heifer growth and we can also reduce stress on the animals.”

Other research is ongoing, including testing which types of forage are best suited for planting and grazing under solar panels. Heins said they planted about 25 types of plant mixes to test their ability to thrive in those conditions.

“So far we’ve found that orchard grass, meadow fescue and red clover probably work best in combination under the solar panels and as forage for the cows,” he said.

Many farmers and solar companies around the world want to know if this system works. Heins explained that it does work, but they are continuing to research what works best.

“We’re moving into the future. We’re actually going to expand some of our research on cow behavior,” Heins said. He added that there’s still concern that cows will damage the panels. When he did, he said, cows could be seen rubbing their necks against the panels’ posts, with no effect on the structure. Still, they’re documenting the cows’ behavior. Heins also plans to plant several varieties of strawberries and even grapes to see how they do in that environment.

The cost of the latest solar installation was about $731,000. About $452,000 of that came from the Minnesota Legislative-Citizen Resources Commission, which is largely funded by the state lottery.