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Type Paper
Location Michigan, USA
Cite as Citation reference for the source document. William Lytle, Theresa K. Meyer, Nagendra G. Tanikella, Laurie Burnham, Julie Engel, Chelsea Schelly, Joshua M. Pearce.Conceptual Design and Rationale for a New Agrivoltaics Concept: Pasture-Raised Rabbits and Solar Farming. Journal of Cleaner Production, 282 (2021) 124476 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.124476 open access

Land-use conflicts created by the growth of solar photovoltaics (PV) can be mitigated by applying the concept of agrivoltaics, that is, the co-development of land for both PV and agricultural purposes, to commercial-scale solar installations. In this study, we present a conceptual design for a novel agrivoltaic system based on pasture-fed rabbit farming and provide the technical, environmental and economic analyses to demonstrate the viability of the concept. Included in our analysis are the economic advantages to the PV operator of grazing rabbits at a density sufficient to control vegetative growth, thus reducing the economic and environmental costs of mowing; the dual-revenue stream from the sale of both rabbits and electricity, contrasted with estimates of the capital-investment costs for rabbits co-located with, and also independent of, PV; and the economic value to the rabbit farmer of higher colony-growth rates (made possible by the shading and predator protection provided by the PV arrays and of reduced fencing costs, which are the largest capital cost, by being able to leverage the PV systems for rabbit fencing. We also provide an environmental analysis that suggests that rabbit-PV farming is a pathway to a measurable reduction in agriculturally-generated greenhouse-gas emissions. Our calculations indicate that the co-location of solar and rabbit farms is a viable form of agrivoltaics, increasing overall site revenue by 2.5%-24.0% above projected electricity revenue depending on location and rental/ownership of rabbits, while providing a high-value agricultural product that, on a per weight basis, has significantly less environmental impact than cattle.

Highlights[edit | edit source]

  • Agrivoltaics avoids land-use conflicts between photovoltaics (PV) and agriculture.
  • Developed novel pasture-fed rabbit farming for agrivoltaics.
  • Rabbits cut O&M costs by grazing.
  • Location dependent rabbits increase revenue 2.5-24% from ownership/land rental fees.

External resources for agrivoltaics[edit | edit source]

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See also[edit | edit source]

Services provided by agrivoltaics are: renewable electricity generation, decreased green-house gas emissions, reduced climate change, increased crop yield, plant protection from excess solar energy, plant protection from inclement weather such as hail, water conservation, agricultural employment, local food, improved health from pollution reduction increased revenue for farmers, a hedge against inflation, the potential to produce nitrogen fertilizer on farm, on farm production of renewable fuels such as anhydrous ammonia or hydrogen, and electricity for EV charging for on- or off-farm use.
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In the News[edit source]

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Keywords most completed projects and publications, agrivoltaic, agriculture, photovoltaic, farming, joint production, solar farm, economics, rabbit farming, land use, food-energy-water nexus, sustainable agriculture, energy
SDG SDG07 Affordable and clean energy
Authors William Lytle, Theresa K. Meyer, Nagendra G. Tanikella, Laurie Burnham, Julie Engel, Chelsea Schelly, Joshua M. Pearce
License CC-BY-SA-4.0
Organizations MOST
Language English (en)
Related 0 subpages, 0 pages link here
Aliases Conceptual Design and Rationale for a New Agrivoltaics Concept: Pastured-Raised Rabbits and Solar Farming
Impact 649 page views
Created October 8, 2020 by Joshua M. Pearce
Modified January 29, 2024 by Felipe Schenone
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