ASGA Call 80: The Ecosystem Dynamics of Solar Sheep and Cattle Grazing

​What does the complete ecosystem picture of a solar farm grazed by sheep or cattle look like? That’s precisely the question that Anna Clare Monlezun (Graze LLC) and the teams at Silicon Ranch, White Oak Pastures, Colorado State University, Quanterra Systems, and National Renewable Energy Laboratory have set out to answer in their collaborative research study.
 
For this webinar, Dr. Monlezun will discuss the research design and go over some preliminary findings.
 
Their project explores the dynamics of soil, water, carbon, vegetation, and animals on pastures in a solar energy system. The project is looking at how those dynamics play out in 4 separate environments:

• ​Sheep grazing on solar

• ​Mowing on solar

• ​Cattle grazing on pasture

• ​Cattle grazing on solar

​She’ll also be joined by Nick de Vries, Chief Technology Officer of Silicon Ranch and Principle Investigator (PI) on the DOE grant, who will discuss how the project came together and how their solar company became involved in DOE funded research. This will be instructive for other developers looking to get involved in similar research projects.
 
The research is supported by a grant from the Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Office.
 
Learn more about the project here: https://www.siliconranch.com/cattletracker/