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Nashville-based Silicon Ranch is one of the country's largest independent solar power producers. In 2019, it launched Regenerative Energy, its utility-scale agrivoltaics platform that marries clean solar energy generation and regenerative agriculture on one piece of land.
Today's Tactical Tuesday will give you an overview of this transformative new standard of excellence for solar power plant design, construction, and operations. Michael Baute, Vice President of Regenerative Energy & Carbon Removal at Silicon Ranch, said normalizing regenerative agriculture practices on solar farm sites is a way to help "solar do more."
Silicon Ranch is so committed to the co-location process that it trademarked the phrase, Regenerative Energy.
"If you’ve never heard about the amazing potential of regenerative agriculture and land use practices to naturally sequester a critical mass of CO2 in the soil and forests, you’re not alone. One of the best-kept secrets in the world today is that the solution to global warming and the climate crisis (as well as poverty and deteriorating public health) lies right under our feet, and at the end of our knives and forks." - Ronnie Cummins, Regeneration International Steering Committee Member
Michael believes in the power of Regenerative Agriculture to help ensure solar farms care for the arable land and communities where they reside. Solar occupies the property on which it’s built for upwards of 25 or more years, and Michael realized from his training in sustainable agriculture the possibility to utilize that land not just to avoid generating power from fossil fuels but to actually sequester CO2, thus giving the asset double duty! And Michael is helping one of the country's largest independent solar power producers provide not just clean energy, but carbon-negative solutions.
"Arguably, 12,000 years ago, we went wrong in our agricultural production practices, and only today are we seeing the negative impacts. We've treated the land, plants, and animals as tools to feed ourselves when we could have viewed them more as a natural interconnected system.”
"That's what we're trying to understand better when we build regenerative agricultural production models. How do animals fit into the overall cycles of nature, nutrient and carbon cycles, and then produce food that enriches soils and enhances ecosystem functionality?" he said.
Founded in 2011, Silicon Ranch provides customized renewable energy, carbon, and battery storage solutions to various partners in the U.S. and Canada. Its portfolio includes more than 4 gigawatts of solar and battery storage systems contracted, under construction, or operating. We covered the amazing trajectory of SRC through the story of one co-founder, Reagan Farr, back in Episode 399 of SunCast.
Silicon Ranch pioneered utility-scale solar in the Tennessee Valley and has continued as the region's market leader through 35 operating facilities.
It owns and operates all projects in its portfolio and promotes a holistic approach to land management. Michael tells us how Silicon Ranch co-locates clean electricity generation and regenerative agriculture to provide further environmental, economic, and community benefits.
"We're co-locating regenerative agriculture to meet our operational objectives, and it produces all these benefits. It genuinely is about making the solar power plant do more for the communities we partner with for these projects," he said.
To achieve the Biden Administration's goal of 100% renewable electricity by 2035, millions of acres nationwide would have to be covered in solar panels. Most of this land is farmland, and traditional solar development would monopolize this land for just one use: energy production.
Regenerative energy takes a different approach, one focused on responsible land management. Simply stated, it is an approach to solar power plant design, construction, and operations that maximize solar's positive environmental and social impacts while minimizing negative impacts.
It starts with designing the solar farm to fit the landscape instead of shaping the landscape to fit a predetermined design. This includes features like conservation buffers, terraced berms, and native vegetation and incorporating regenerative agriculture practices into the management of the site. This could include planting pollinator-friendly wildflowers or using no-till farming techniques to restore soil health.
Michael said Silicon Ranch's business model includes owning most of the real estate it develops. "We're truly part of the community. And having that long-term perspective ensures we have a responsibility to design and build power plants that function that are highly efficient," he said.
Because Silicon Ranch also owns the land it views it as a biological asset rather than an operational liability. "Especially with a long-term or 40-year useful life perspective on things, we can manage it to create these co-benefits. And we've begun to measure the co-benefits," he said.
Silicon Ranch typically implements adaptive multi-paddock sheep grazing at its regenerative energy sites, which enables it to meet its vegetation management and performance goals and creates jobs. "We're distributing economic impact to the agricultural community in those neighborhoods," he said.
Join us to learn more from Michael about the benefits of regenerative energy and how it creates added value for its customers and communities. It's a fascinating conversation.
NOTEWORTHY QUOTEs:
“It’s really about valuing, and respecting that local institutional knowledge of how land functions, how it’s managed, how not to get tripped up managing it, and then trying to apply that to our construction processes. ”
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ABOUT THE HOST OF SUNCAST:
Nico Johnson is the creator and host of SunCast, consistently rated a top solar podcast in the clean energy sector. The content of the show is geared towards listeners looking for insights on where the markets are headed, how to position themselves or their companies, and what today's market leaders do to stay ahead of the pack.
Nico is an Investor, Executive Coach, and 16-year veteran of the solar industry, having led development in the US and Latin America for global companies like Trina Solar and Conergy.
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