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 approximately 21.5 acres within a fenced solar facility, scheduled for completion in the Spring of 2024. The entire fenced solar project would be available for solar grazing. The first growing season for vegetable/crop production is anticipated in the early Fall of 2024 or Spring of 2025. 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 and support the City of New London.
The leased area is located on a 190-acre parcel zoned rural residential and can be accessed from Spencer Hill Road using an unimproved gravel road. A seven-foot-high chain-link fence will enclose the solar array with a locking vehicle access gate.
This parcel consists of a drumlin that slopes mainly to the east and west, with grades ranging from 8 to 15 percent. It is classified as prime farmland soil. Based on soil type, are would be ideal for growing vegetables, fruits, or other horticultural use or sheep grazing. This land has been harvested for hay.
The growing area will consist of approximately thirty-nine 12.6-feet-wide linear rows of approximately 8,000 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 285 MW of renewable energy facilities across 549 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
