Suitable sites for hosting utility-scale solar power projects are becoming thin on the ground. A study last year by project planning software developer Paces that focused on New York and Illinois said prospective acreage and potential renewable project site capacity are in decline. Moreover, developers often face opposition to large projects on optimal land from rural landowners and neighboring communities.
One way to open up greenfield acreage to solar is to demonstrate how well a project can fit with the life and commerce of the region. Last spring, Texas-based Vesper Energy commissioned its 600 MW (AC) Hornet Solar project, the first of a trio of projects that will bring 1 GW of new solar capacity along with 400 MW of storage to the Texas panhandle. In addition to providing renewable energy to the ERCOT grid, the project’s 3,800 acres is also hosting upwards of 2,500 sheep grazing among the rows of tracking PV modules.
Zach Wald, vice president of engineering, procurement and construction at Vesper, told pv magazine USA that the key to success in rural solar development is to meet early and often with the community and stakeholders at all levels.
“Our community affairs team really did a great job of going out, meeting individuals and spending a spending a lot of time explaining what solar looks like,” Wald said. “What’s the process like and what does it mean for them?”
In the case of Hornet Solar, the discussions involved how the project would exist in conjunction with vegetation that was important to pollinators, such as insects, which are a vital part of agriculture. Wald said that concerns about the pollinator mix for a given prospective site and other agrivoltaics issues are not just good for business but are part of the company’s core principles and guidance to be as environmentally responsible as possible.
“A lot of counties require a report on pollinator mixes, but even if they don’t we’re going to do it anyway,” he said. “That’s one of the benefits of solar. While the footprint at Hornet might be 3,800 acres, there is a lot of open space between the panels. Pollinator mixes and grazing sheep, like we have at Hornet, are perfect use cases for the land while you are generating the energy.”
Co-locating sheep with solar is an interesting development. Vesper reports the site also is patrolled by 11 herding dogs monitoring their charges. According to Wald, sheep grazing on large-scale rural solar projects has evolved industry wide over the last five years or so. Such projects don’t have a lot of moving parts (trackers move sedately and don’t startle the animals) and support lot of growing grass.
“We tried out goats, but they didn’t work so well,” Wald said.
Goats are too rambunctious, perhaps, and have a tendency to climb things. You don’t want goats on your solar array.
The project includes more than 1.36 million Boviet bifacial solar modules mounted on Array Technology Duratrack HZ V3 single-axis trackers. Sungrow supplied 195 of its 3600 inverters.
Hornet Solar and its follow-on projects, Hornet Solar II and Nazareth, each planned as 200 MW (AC) arrays with 200 MW of storage (the original Hornet project does not have storage), are located in what is essentially an optimal location.
“That area of West Texas is just great for solar in general,” Wald said. “It has all the characteristics you’re looking for. It’s nice flat land, lots of sunshine and a transmission line running right through there with load available. So, when searching for a perfect solar site, that’s the blend you’re looking for.”
Again, Wald credits early engagement with the landowners and the community with enabling Vesper to lease the land necessary to move such a significant solar project forward. You need to have a lot of conversations and answer a lot of questions, he said. On top of that, a developer needs to be able to move forward on the project quickly once the deal is made so as not to generate any bad blood.
“I’ll just say as a general construction practice, especially in solar, you want the planning to take a long time and you want construction to take a short time, right?” Wald said. “That’s a successful project.”
An agrivoltaics mindset is essential for gaining access to the dwindling number of greenfield potential project sites that are still available. Each region will have different needs and concerns.
The opportunities are out there. Luigi Resta, president and CEO of Utah-based developer rPlus Energies told pv magazine USA that utility-scale solar projects are generally welcomed by landowners and rural communities in his part of the country. The company’s Pleasant Valley Solar projects in Idaho are situated on flat sage brush high-plains desert that doesn’t have much value as agricultural land. The landowners derive more income from leases than they would from farming or ranching.
“Solar is kind of the highest and best use of this rural land,” Resta said.
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