Greenskies Clean Focus is looking for farmers to participate in an exciting opportunity for co-located growing within an active solar array. The area available is prime for growers interested in sustainable farming practices or the emerging field of agrivoltaics (the co-location of agriculture and solar energy generation).
The parcel comprises 10.2 acres within a fenced solar facility, scheduled for completion in Late spring or summer 2026. The entire fenced solar project would be available for solar grazing. The first growing season for vegetable/crop production is anticipated in Fall 2026. The anticipated service life of this solar facility is 20 to 30 years. This solar facility is a distributed energy resource that will help contribute to Connecticut's renewable energy goals.
The leased area is located on a 23-acre parcel zoned as residential property with access from Middlefield Rd via a gravel road. A seven-foot-high chain-link fence will enclose the solar array with a locking vehicle access gate.
The parcel consists of a southern sloping plain tucked into a wooded area with slopes around 10 percent. It is classified as prime farmland soil. Based on soil type, the site would be ideal for growing vegetables, fruits, or other horticultural use or sheep grazing.
The growing area will consist of approximately forty-two 13-foot-wide linear rows of roughly 7,000 solar panels. Planting of crops will need to accommodate an underground conduit at a depth of 24 inches. Use of hand management techniques and walk-behind no-till tractors will be allowable. The solar modules will be around 10 feet above the final grade, with roughly two to three feet of ground clearance. No crops are to be grown directly beneath the panels.
Pesticides and herbicides may be used with permission from the landowners and in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, including, but not limited to, the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act.
Greenskies is interested in building relationships with local third-party farmers to grow crops or raise sheep within this fenced solar array. Want to learn more? We'd love to talk with you about this opportunity for agricultural with solar dual-use.
About Greenskies Clean Focus
Greenskies Clean Focus offers a full suite of decarbonization solutions, including onsite and offsite solar, battery storage, microgrids, and CCHP. Our vertical integration delivers the most cost-competitive solutions for the commercial, public sector, and utility energy users throughout the US. From beginning to end, our customers work with a single delivery team. Greenskies originates, develops, constructs, and operates, while Clean Focus finances and owns the systems. Since our founding in 2009, we have constructed and operate 310 MW of renewable energy facilities across 578 sites in 19 states. Solar Power World ranks Greenskies Clean Focus as the number one commercial solar developer in the Northeast and top three in the US, based on cumulative kW installed. For more information, please visit www.greenskies.com
