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by scotth 1848 days ago
Can livestock live under solar installations?
4 comments

Goats/sheeps are often used to clean the weeds in solar farms https://solargrazing.org/what-is-solar-grazing/

There are also studies that show that solar panel above fields can help boost production of both: solar panel get cooled by the plant perspiration and the plant get cooled by the shade of the panel.

> For the safety of the existing, low-mount solar arrays, goats, cows, pigs, and horses are not recommended.

Goats climb anything.

I'm sure some would appreciate the shade. Most "free-range" chickens actually live in big enclosed warehouses so they might appreciate some fresh air under solar panels.

Grazing animals probably wouldn't work very well.

It seems quite possible if they fix the issue of having panels too close to the ground. https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2020-08-25/parkes-solar-pa...
No, growing plants out in the sun is much more efficient than capturing the light with a solar panel and then growing the plants elsewhere.
Installing solar panel above fields to boost the production of both is a thing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrivoltaic

But growing plants in arid sunny regions requires a lot of irrigation, which might offset the benefits of maximizing solar efficiency.
The question was about places you would raise livestock.
Believe it or not, one of the problems deserts have for growing plants is too much sun.

Or rather, too much sun for available water. Installing solar panels high enough that goats don't bump into them, and planting shade-tolerant arid plants, can absolutely support grazing.

Could there be a balance?

Some grasses grow with partial light. With the right inter-panel spacing, could it be that a grazing animal might require more space, but not to an unreasonable degree? (I assume there are other considerations for the pasture...ease of finding the animals, moving them around, etc)

And while I'm thinking about it (and I'm way out of my depth here), but sunlight is a lot more powerful than growlights, is it not? Could power be siphoned to an extent, to supplement growth?
I'm realizing that the loss in the system means this wouldn't make sense. Better to use existing light.