In a vast property in Lee County, in the heart of southwestern Georgia, Tyler Hopper raises sheep.
While the herd is sponsored, sheep need somewhere to take a break from Georgia’s sun.
He said on another hot day: “The weather is incredibly hot, the sun is inevitable, and the fact that they have a shade every fifteen feet here – it is just an ideal environment, to be very close.”
The shade comes from solar panels, using the same uncompromising sunlight to generate energy.
The sheep, in turn, reduce the shear costs of the solar energy farm. Huber said that the herd loves to be deceived on the vegetation under the paintings and around it.
“If we are able to develop this, and it is just a buffet of everything they can want, they will eat it happily,” he said.
Before Silicon Ranch’s solar developer buys this ground, she had row crops – most of them of corn and cotton – and decay. Farmers cannot grow corn and cotton under the solar panels, but this is still the agricultural lands of sheep and bees.
The scenes are increasingly common as energy companies add more and more solar energy to keep pace with the increasing demand for renewable electricity. Many of these solar panels are built in agricultural lands. The American Agricultural Land Fund, which tracks the conversion of agricultural lands into other uses, Projects 80 percent of the spaces needed to increase solar energy can be agricultural lands. The trend led to a wave of opposition from local activists to the legislative bodies of the state and the White House.
But supporters say, often, solar and solar energy can coexist.
Lisa Davis said with the Chamber of Commerce in Lee County that the silicone farm project, with its continuous operations for sheep and bees, is different from what many expect when agricultural lands are sold or rent to solar energy companies.
She said, “They imagine in their head that you got these large excavators and that you are transporting everything.” “This is not the case.”
The province has actually stopped developing solar energy a few years ago due to these concerns, and asked Valdosa State University to consider this issue. the Announced study I found that the financial benefits of taxpayers exceed the negative aspects because agricultural lands get a tax break in Georgia. Farmers pay property taxes on only 40 percent of the value of their lands, but the boycott can collect full property taxes on solar energy.
Davis said it could make a big difference for rural societies.
“They will never get large manufacturers or a lot of large commercial ads,” she said. “So it can mean the opportunity to get a solar project a lot.”
However, there was a decline in solar energy in agricultural lands. A draft law in the Legislative Council in Georgia this year has removed the agricultural land tax break for an entire farm if it added solar energy – even when solar energy is only in part of the Earth. This procedure was approved by Georgia’s home, but not the Senate and still can return next year. Other states, including Ohio and Missouri, I also followed the border On the development of solar farms.
The Trump administration also said that it wants it “Disincentivize” solar development in agricultural lands.
Agricultural land loss is a great concern Depending onWhich is estimated that 2000 acres of agricultural lands are lost for non -agricultural uses every day. But at least in Georgia, the group said that solar energy is not the main perpetrator.
“Many of what we see with regard to the pressure of the transformation of agricultural lands in Georgia is actually due to low -density housing development,” said Malry Ausin, Director of the Southeast AFT program.
She said there are real concerns about solar energy.
It can raise the price of the ground. Silicone farm I recently reached a settlement With farmers who invited another of Georgia facilities, this was in Stewart County, causing surface flow on their soil. Last year, quoting concerns about wildlife effects, Houston Provincial Commissioners Council Voice against a large solar farm.
However, Ocean said, there are also benefits. The use of part of their solar energy can ensure cash income for farmers even when the weather or disease gives crops, for example.
Ocean said the key is for policy makers to direct solar development in a balance between energy needs with farmers’ interests.
