Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “SOLAR GENERATOR”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 307 records · Page 17
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Fault Response of Distributed Energy Resources Considering the Requirements of IEEE 1547-2018

Inverter-based DER responses to faults on the electric power system are different than those of conventional generators and are often poorly understood. Inverter fault responses are largely software-defined, within physics-based constraints. DERs are regulated by standards and grid codes that also constrain their responses. Though fault response of DERs will vary widely, for any DER following any particular standard, a pattern of fault response can be synthesized by observing that particular standard. In this paper, the recently published IEEE 1547-2018 is examined to explore the general fault response of any DER that follows IEEE 1547-2018. Additionally, an IEEE 1547-2018 compliant inverter model is developed and tested in simulation to find the fault response, and that response is compared with the fault response of a commercial off-the-shelf inverter.

41 EE - Solar Energy Technologies Office (EE-4S)↗
DOE OSTI2021

Integration of energy storage with diesel generation in remote communities

Highlights Battery energy storage may improve energy efficiency and reliability of hybrid energy systems composed by diesel and solar photovoltaic power generators serving isolated communities. In projects aiming update of power plants serving electrically isolated communities with redundant diesel generation, battery energy storage can improve overall economic performance of power supply system by reducing fuel usage, decreasing capital costs by replacing redundant diesel generation units, and increasing generator system life by shortening yearly runtime. Fast-acting battery energy storage systems with grid-forming inverters might have potential for improving drastically the reliability indices of isolated communities currently supplied by diesel generation. Abstract This paper will highlight unique challenges and opportunities with regard to energy storage utilization in remote, self-sustaining communities. The energy management of such areas has unique concerns. Diesel generation is often the go-to power source in these scenarios, but these systems are not devoid of issues. Without dedicated maintenance crews as in large, interconnected network areas, minor interruptions can be frequent and invasive not only for those who lose power, but also for those in the community that must then correct any faults. Although the immediate financial benefits are perhaps not readily apparent, energy storage could be used to address concerns related to reliability, automation, fuel supply concerns, generator degradation, solar utilization, and, yes, fuel costs to name a few. These ideas are shown through a case study of the Levelock Village of Alaska. Currently, the community is faced with high diesel prices and a difficult supply chain, which makes temporary loss of power very common and reductions in fuel consumption very impactful. This study will investigate the benefits that an energy storage system could bring to the overall system life, fuel costs, and reliability of the power supply. The variable efficiency of the generators, impact of startup/shutdown process, and low-load operation concerns are considered. The technological benefits of the combined system will be explored for various scenarios of future diesel prices and technology maintenance/replacement costs as well as for the avoidance of power interruptions that are so common in the community currently. Graphic abstract Discussion In several cases, energy storage can provide a means to promote energy equity by improving remote communities’ power supply reliability to levels closer to what the average urban consumer experiences at a reduced cost compared to transmission buildout. Furthermore, energy equity represents a hard-to-quantify benefit achieved by the integration of energy storage to isolated power systems of under-served communities, which suggests that the financial aspects of such projects should be questioned as the main performance criterion. To improve battery energy storage system valuation for diesel-based power systems, integration analysis must be holistic and go beyond fuel savings to capture every value stream possible.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2026

Buried Interfaces in Organic Photocathodes for H 2 Evolution: Fermi-Level Pinning and Recombination

Herein, we demonstrate how Fermi-level pinning at buried contacts impacts solar fuel generation in all-polymer photocathodes by systematically comparing the effects of work function, hydroxyl coverage, and hydrogen evolution using chemically modified indium tin oxide (ITO) supports. Photovoltages and net photocathode performance are improved when the ITO is passivated using phosphonic acids, independent of work function, suggesting that the passivation reduces Fermi-level pinning at the buried interface arising from blended heterojunction interactions with surface metal hydroxyls. Transient photovoltage decay reveals differences in recombination mechanisms, supported by light intensity-dependent measurements. Briefly, nonpassivated, hydrophilic contacts exhibit trap-assisted recombination, while passivated, hydrophobic contacts follow bimolecular recombination. We then investigate changes in electroactivity of hole-transfer processes as a function of scan rate and repetitive cycling using a diffusion-controlled molecular redox probe, analogous to a hole-only device achieved via the electrolyte. The nonpassivated buried contacts exhibit higher overpotentials for oxidation, indicative of hole injection/extraction barriers. We observe irreversible electron transfer via the hole-transport level of the blended heterojunction and a strong cycle dependence, consistent with changes in the hole trap state density. Passivation results in more reversible redox behaviors, consistent with more Ohmic-like contacts. Collectively, these results provide context toward the realization of durable organic photoelectrodes with optimized photovoltages and net solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiencies via fundamental understanding of the rates of carrier generation, recombination, and transport in high-dielectric aqueous environments and opportunities to characterize buried interfaces under device-relevant electric fields.

buried interfaces↗
DOE OSTI2025

Thermal Analysis of a Solid Particle Light-Trapping Planar Cavity Receiver Using Computational Fluid Dynamics

Concentrated solar power (CSP) is one of the most effective ways of harnessing solar power to create efficient, durable, and resilient energy systems. This study entails thermal modeling and analysis of a novel central tower receiver configuration. This receiver uses solid particles as the heat transfer fluid (HTF), a promising option for third-generation CSP systems. The configuration considered here is the light-trapping planar cavity receiver (LTPCR) introduced by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. While heat transfer studies of various LTPCR subsystems have been done, system-level thermal analysis of the LTPCR receiver has not been attempted. This study also presents important sensitivity analyses of the operating parameters of the CSP system, which can help guide the design of future central tower receivers. This study employs Ansys Fluent as a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tool to model fluid dynamics and heat transfer in the receiver, intending to quantify its thermal performance. The model seamlessly integrates Monte Carlo ray tracing data, which generates absorbed solar flux profiles from the heliostat field design, with the heat transfer characteristics of the fluidized particle bed. This unified model is designed to accurately predict the thermal behavior of the LTPCR. Analysis of preliminary results reveals that the primary loss mechanisms are radiative and natural convective losses, in that order. Based on observations from a baseline case, several strategies are suggested and numerically tested. These solutions include selective cooling of high-temperature regions and manipulation of particle bed parameters. Selective cooling of high-temperature regions reduced the peak temperature by 151 degrees C and decreased thermal losses by 0.9%. Improving the particle-wall heat transfer coefficient (P-W HTC) of the particle bed decreased the thermal losses by 1.7% and decreased the peak temperatures by 57 degrees C. Decreasing the particle inlet temperature (PIT) also reduced thermal losses by 3.5% and decreased peak temperatures by 29 degrees C. Compounding these strategies improved the thermal losses of the receiver from 13.5% in the baseline case to 7.5%. Additionally, the study explores the variation in thermal performance across different locations of the receiver, where a variation of thermal losses from 12.9% to 17.3% is found. This allows a comprehensive evaluation of potential improvements in efficiency and temperature management.

computational fluid dynamics↗
DOE OSTI2022

Short-term solar radiation forecast using total sky imager via transfer learning

Ground-based sky cameras, which capture hemispherical images, have been extensively used for localized monitoring of clouds. This paper proposes a short-term forecasting approach based on transfer learning using Total Sky-Imager (TSI) images of the Southern Great Plains (SGP) site obtained from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) dataset. An accurate estimation of solar irradiance using TSI is key for short-term solar energy generation forecasting and optimal energy consumption planning. We make use of deep neural network architectures such as AlexNet and ResNet-101 to extract the underlying deep convolution features from TSI images and then train using an ensemble learning approach to model and forecast solar radiation. We demonstrate the performance of the proposed approach by showcasing the best and worst cases. Thus, the transfer learning approach significantly reduces the time and resources required for modeling solar radiation. We outperform with reference to another state-of-art technique for solar modeling using TSI images at different forecast lead times.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Spokane Eco-District Campus Performance Under Alternative Electricity Rates: Benefits for virtual power plant participants and suppliers

Here, the respective benefits for virtual power plant participants and suppliers are revealed and compared under alternative electricity rate structures, including conventional large commercial electricity rates, large commercial electricity rates with special rates for demand-side generation, and dynamic hourly transactive prices. These three scenarios were explored using the capabilities of the Eco-District campus, a virtual power plant in Spokane, Washington, that is supplied electricity by Avista Utilities. The Eco-District Campus was modeled to host solar power generation, battery energy storage, and thermal energy resources that must be coordinated with building heating and cooling needs. First, the electricity supplier’s costs for energy, infrastructure, and energy losses were modeled. Then, the virtual power plant’s performance was modeled while presuming that its manager would minimize its costs under its electricity rate structure. The demand charges of conventional commercial electricity rates managed monthly peak, as would be expected, but hourly dynamic transactive pricing resulted in a striking alignment between the costs incurred by the supplier and the virtual power plant’s energy costs.

Electricity rates↗
DOE OSTI2022

Photovoltaics module reliability for the terawatt age

Photovoltaics (PV), or solar electricity generation, has become the cheapest form of energy in many locations worldwide and, combined with energy storage, has the potential to satisfy most of our electricity needs. PV has grown at an annual compounded growth rate of approximately 30% in the last three decades. Solar energy systems will continue their impressive growth in distributed energy, microgrids, and utility scale, as efforts are made for dependable electricity in an age with increasing extreme weather. However, within this remarkable success lies a new challenge. The growth curve, combined with rapid product innovation and scale up, means that the majority of PV systems are new, without the three years of performance data that have been required in the past to estimate product lifetime. PV reliability has to address this challenge. In this review we present a brief summary of PV reliability starting with brief historical synopsis, detailing some of the technological challenges and present a framework required for long lifetime.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Innovative Method for Welding in Generation 3 CSP to Enable Reliable Manufacturing of Solar Receivers to withstand Daily Cycling at Temperatures Above 700°C (Final Technical Report)

Inconel® Alloy 740H® (alloy 740H) was the first age-hardenable nickel-based alloy approved by the ASME Boiler & Pressure Vessel Code for use in pressure-boundary applications. Over the past ~20 years the alloy has been optimized for weldability and high-temperature stability, approved for use in different applications. Development of a supply chain combined with the advantageous properties of the alloy (high-temperature creep strength, oxidation and corrosion resistance, etc.) have resulted in the alloy being applied to new high-temperature power cycle demonstration projects, and of particular interest are applications to concentrating solar power (CSP) to enable higher-efficiency Generation 3 CSP systems and the corresponding supercritical CO 2 (sCO 2 ) power cycle components (heat exchangers, piping, etc.). The high allowable stresses of alloy 740H also make it a desirable material for current Generation 2 CSP solar power receivers to improve cyclic capability and/or reduce receiver height. Recent experiences in demonstration projects utilizing alloy 740H identified cracking issues during welding and fabrication. In this project, a detailed study was done to confirm and clarify the Stress Relaxation Cracking (SRxC) mechanism, also known as stress relief cracking or strain-age cracking (SAC), during post-weld heat-treatment (PWHT). This involved detailed microscopy and advanced characterization to understand the root cause(s) of three failures obtained from industry. Based in-part on these findings, a targeted laboratory based SRxC test method was utilized to evaluate variables such as heat-to-heat variations, strain level, PWHT temperature, and starting material condition on three heats of alloy 740H. Industrial shop welding of cold-worked plates was also conducted. The research showed the following: SRxC was confirmed as the cracking mechanism for all field failures; Stress state (from residual stresses, constraint, deformation, and local stress concentrations) was playing a significant role in field failures and laboratory testing confirmed increasing susceptibility for all heats with increasing strain levels. High levels of microstructural strain were identified at crack initiation locations, in some cases leading to local recrystallization; Precipitate free zones (PFZs) at grain boundaries were found at relaxation cracks and crack initiation locations uniquely associated with SRxC in alloy 740H. Laboratory testing reproduced this microstructural feature which had only previously been reported in long-term creep testing of weldments. Advanced nano-scale characterization confirmed the presence of a moving boundary leading to coarsening of precipitates and PFZs where damage accumulated; The research suggested heat-to-heat variations due to local chemistry and processing may influence SRxC susceptibility, but more work is needed to fully clarify these effects. To disseminate the key learnings from this research to the scientific and engineering communities and alloy 740H end users, multiple technical publications and presentations were made, an industrial alloy 740H users meeting was held, and a new industry guideline specification document which can be directly implemented by end-users of alloy 740H was produced.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Failure Modes of Platinized pn+-GaInP Photocathodes for Solar-Driven H2 Evolution

The long-term stability for the hydrogen-evolution reaction (HER) of homojunction pn+-Ga0.52In0.48P photocathodes (band gap = 1.8 eV) with an electrodeposited Pt catalyst (pn+-GaInP/Pt) has been systematically evaluated in both acidic and alkaline electrolytes. Electrode dissolution during chronoamperometry was correlated with changes over time in the current density-potential (J-E) behavior to reveal the underlying failure mechanism. Pristine pn+-GaInP/Pt photocathodes yielded an open-circuit photopotential (Eoc) as positive as >1.0 V vs the potential of the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) and a light-limited current density (Jph) of >12 mA cm-2 (1-sun illumination). However, Eoc and Jph gradually degraded at either pH 0 or pH 14. The performance degradation was attributed to three different failure modes: (1) gradual thinning of the n+-emitter layer due to GaInP dissolution in acid; (2) active corrosion of the underlying GaAs substrate at positive potentials causing delamination of the upper GaInP epilayers; and (3) direct GaAs/electrolyte contact compromising the operational stability of the device. This work reveals the importance of both substrate stability and structural integrity of integrated photoelectrodes toward stable solar fuel generation.

CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS,S↗
DOE OSTI2021

Gen 3 Particle Pilot Plant (G3P3) -- High-Temperature Particle System for Concentrating Solar Power (Phases 1 and 2)

The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office initiated the Generation 3 Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) program to achieve higher operating temperatures (>700 °C) to enable next-generation CSP high-temperature power cycles such as the supercritical CO 2 (sCO2) Brayton Cycle. Three teams were selected to pursue high-temperature gas, liquid, and solid pathways for the heat-transfer media. Phases 1 and 2, which lasted from 2018 – 2020, consisted of design, modeling, and testing activities to further de-risk each of the technologies and develop a design for construction, commissioning, and operation of a pilot-scale facility in Phase 3 (2021 – 2024). This report summarizes the activities in Phases 1 and 2 for the solid-particle pathway led by Sandia National Laboratories. In Phases 1 and 2, Sandia successfully de-risked key elements of the proposed Gen 3 Particle Pilot Plant (G3P3) by improving the design, operation, and performance of key particle component technologies including the receiver, storage bins, particle-to-sCO2 heat exchanger, particle lift, and data acquisition and controls. Modeling and testing of critical components have led to optimized designs that meet desired performance metrics. Detailed drawings, piping and instrumentation diagrams, and process flow diagrams were generated for the integrated system, and structural analyses of the assembled tower structure were performed to demonstrate compliance with relevant codes and standards. Instrumentation and control systems of key subsystems were also demonstrated. Together with Bridgers & Paxton, Bohannan Huston, and Sandia Facilities, we have completed a 100% G3P3 tower design package with stamped engineering drawings suitable for construction bid in Phase 3.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Covalent Organic Frameworks for Water Treatment

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are an emerging type of porous crystalline material with highly ordered aperture size and tunable structures with designer properties. COFs have been proposed as promising materials for water treatment because of their notable intrinsic properties like excellent chemostability, high surface area, abundant functional sites, and uniform adjustable aperture size. This review focuses on fundamental COF design principles for water treatment (stability, aperture size, and surface functionalization) and the state-of-the-art application of COFs in desalination, organic contaminant sorption, and ion capture. Additional potential promising applications of COFs for water treatment, including solar steam generation, photocatalysis for degradation of organic contaminants, and capacitive deionization are also presented along with an outlook toward future opportunities in the field.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Bat activity at ecovoltaic solar energy developments in the Midwestern United States

As global photovoltaic (PV) solar electricity generation continues to increase, some PV sites are co-prioritizing electricity generation and ecosystem function (“ecovoltaics”) to align renewable energy development with biodiversity conservation. Thus far, positive responses of plant and insect communities to native habitats at ecovoltaic sites have been observed, but there has been little research on bat responses to ecovoltaic designs in the U.S. We conducted passive ultrasonic monitoring in 2023 and 2024 at 12 solar sites and paired reference sites (agricultural fields) to investigate bat activity responses to ecovoltaic facilities in the Midwestern U.S. We found that average weekly overall bat activity was approximately 50?% higher within ecovoltaic sites than reference sites in the first half of the monitoring season. We also found species-specific differences in bat responses to ecovoltaic sites, with Hoary Bats showing higher activity on ecovoltaic sites throughout most of the monitoring season, Big Brown Bats showing higher activity on ecovoltaic sites during the first one-third of the monitoring season, and Silver-haired Bats showing no difference in activity between ecovoltaic sites and reference sites. There were no weeks in which bat activity was statistically greater on reference sites, suggesting that bats in the Midwestern U.S. do not avoid ecovoltaic solar sites. Rather, our results suggest that ecovoltaic sites in this region may provide early season (May-June) habitat at a time of year when resources may be limited in the surrounding landscape. These findings support a growing body of evidence on the positive ecological outcomes of ecovoltaic designs. Further investigations of the types of bat calls being recorded at PV sites and relationships with insect prey abundance are needed to understand the underlying drivers of species-specific responses to PV developments.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Fermi Level Engineering of Passivation and Electron Transport Materials for p-Type CuBi 2 O 4 Employing a High-Throughput Methodology

Metal oxide semiconductors are promising for solar photochemistry if the issues of excessive charge carrier recombination and material degradation can be resolved, which are both influenced by surface quality and interface chemistry. Coating the semiconductor with an overlayer to passivate surface states is a common remedial strategy but is less desirable than application of a functional coating that can improve carrier extraction and reduce recombination while mitigating corrosion. Here, a data-driven materials science approach utilizing high-throughput methodologies, including inkjet printing and scanning droplet electrochemical cell measurements, is used to create and evaluate multi-element coating libraries to discover new classes of candidate passivation and electron-selective contact materials for p-type CuBi 2 O 4 . The optimized overlayer (Cu 1.5 TiO z ) improves the onset potential by 110 mV, the photocurrent by 2.8×, and the absorbed photon-to-current efficiency by 15.5% compared to non-coated photoelectrodes. It is shown that these enhancements are related to reduced surface recombination through passivation of surface defect states as well as improved carrier extraction efficiency through Fermi level engineering. This work presents a generalizable, high-throughput method to design and optimize passivation materials for a variety of semiconductors, providing a powerful platform for development of high-performance photoelectrodes for incorporation into solar-fuel generation systems.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Method for Spatiotemporal Solar Power Profile Estimation for a Proposed U.S.–Caribbean–South America Super Grid under Hurricanes

Solar photovoltaic (PV) generation technology stands out as a scalable and cost-effective solution to enable the transition toward decarbonization. However, PV solar output, beyond the daily solar irradiance variability and unavailability during nights, is very sensitive to weather events like hurricanes. Hurricanes nucleate massive amounts of clouds around their centers, shading hundreds of kilometers in their path, reducing PV power output. This research proposes a spatiotemporal method, implemented in MATLAB R2023b coding, to estimate the shading effect of hurricanes over a wide distribution of PV solar plants connected to a high-voltage power infrastructure called the U.S.–Caribbean–South America super grid. The complete interconnection of the U.S., the Caribbean, and South America results in the lowest power valley levels, i.e., an overall percentual reduction in PV power output caused by hurricane shading. The simulations assess the impact of hurricanes in 10 synthetic trajectories spanning from Texas to Florida. The Caribbean would also experience lower power valleys with expanded interconnectivity schemes. The U.S.–Caribbean–South America super grid reduces Caribbean variability from 37.8% to 8.9% in the case study. The proposed spatiotemporal method for PV power profile estimation is a valuable tool for future solar power generation expansion, transmission planning, and system design considering the impact of hurricanes.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Molten Chloride Thermophysical Properties, Chemical Optimization, and Purification

Next-generation concentrating solar power (CSP) technology requires high-temperature heat-transfer fluids and thermal energy storage that can operate in the temperature range of 500°–720°C. This high temperature demands a new chemistry for the heat-transfer fluids that must have high-temperature thermal and chemical stabilities, high energy density, and low corrosion rate on metallic materials used in the heat exchangers, piping, and thermal energy storage tanks. A ternary MgCl 2 -KCl-NaCl chloride-salt system has been proposed to achieve such goals, given its high-temperature thermal stability. The chloride-salt-based systems have been used by the metallurgy industry as the electrolyte to electrolytically extract metallic magnesium. They have also attracted attentions from the nuclear industry for developing the molten salt fast reactors that can operate at close to atmospheric pressure and at higher temperature than traditional light-water reactors. However, the corrosion properties of the ternary salt are not well known. The corrosion mechanism is believed to be correlated to the presence of MgOHCl impurity at the operation temperature. MgOHCl is fundamentally caused by the hygroscopic nature of the MgCl 2 component. Therefore, the first key objective of this project is to understand the nature of the corrosiveness of the ternary chloride-salt system and its prevention by designing new lab-scale purification processes. Because of its importance, a working group called the Chloride Salt Collective across multiple U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories is established to gain experimental agreement on the corrosion behaviors. In addition, water generation during salt dehydration could lead to highly corrosive HCl/water mixture via a hydrolysis process between water and anhydrous MgCl 2 or MgCl 2 hydrates. MgOHCl will eventually be converted to MgO particulates regardless of the chemical path chosen (i.e., by thermal decomposition, chemical purification with an active metal, or electrochemical purification utilizing the reduction power of electron flows). Large MgO particles with high hardness can wear out bearing and bushing and even clog the delicate channels in the primary heat exchanger. Because of this, a second objective is to understand the chemistry behind salt purification and transfer the scientific understanding to a set of engineering know-how for large-scale salt melter design. Because there is limited information on the thermophysical properties and the sensitivity of these properties around the targeted salt composition, a third objective is to measure thermophysical properties relevant to system and component design and support Topic 1 Liquid Pathway development. For example, composition shift due to salt reaction with water can be a potential issue because it can lead to changes of thermophysical properties, such as (1) melting point (or freeze point), which can jeopardize safe operation of the supercritical CO 2 power cycle proposed for next-generation CSP, and (2) heat capacity and density, which can decrease the overall power-generation capability of the plants. The value of the thermal conductivity of the selected salt composition is also a critical criterion for the solar receiver design.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

A Tutorial on the Control of Floating Offshore Wind Turbines: Stability Challenges and Opportunities for Power Capture

Climate change is a serious threat facing humanity. The United States (U.S.) and many other countries are increasing the amount of electrical power generated from renewable energy sources in an effort to combat climate change and ensure energy independence. The U.S. has set goals to achieve a 100% decarbonized electric grid by 2035 and a net-zero emissions economy by no later than 2050. Renewable energy currently accounts for about 20% of the U.S. power grid. According to the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), in the U.S. in 2021, wind and solar photovoltaic generation supplied 9.1% and 4% of total electricity generation, respectively, and the latest publicly available data show that hydropower represented 6.6% of all electricity generated in the U.S. in 2019. As wind farms have been built in many of the best wind resource areas on land, the U.S. and many other countries are turning to offshore wind for further growth of wind power capacity. Further, the U.S. has committed to deploy 30 GW of offshore wind by 2030, a significant increase from the 0.04 GW of installed offshore wind in the country as of the end of 2023. Many other countries have also established ambitious goals or plans to increase the amount of installed offshore wind power.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Can we have clean energy and grow our crops too? Solar siting on agricultural land in the United States

We report a record amount of large-scale solar development is proposed and under construction in the US Midwest, much of it on agricultural land. This article contributes to the social science literature on renewable energy and public acceptance by addressing stakeholder perspectives on developing utility-scale solar power on agricultural land and complex institutional dynamics that shape these siting decisions. How do stakeholders’ interactions coproduce solar siting decisions? How are the existing complex contexts of energy and agricultural systems affecting solar siting? Who are the stakeholders involved in agricultural solar siting, and how do their epistemic paradigms about using agricultural land, especially prime farmland, differ? To answer these questions, interviews were conducted and analyzed across energy, agriculture, government, and expert stakeholder groups, focusing on Michigan, with comparison to other states. The results provide a conceptual map of stakeholder interaction related to solar development on farmland and characterize the main epistemic paradigms shaping stakeholder conflict. Issues shaping agricultural community perceptions include identity and farmland, the decisions of local farmland renters and non-operating landlords, prime versus lower quality farmland, farm financial viability, and farmland as private property or a public good. Some scientists and engineers seek to alleviate conflicts and drawbacks of agricultural land conversion for solar use by combining farming and solar energy generation: a practice called agrivoltaics. We argue that agrivoltaics are currently treated as a technological fix by not accounting for stakeholder interaction in complex policy, community, and scientific institutions. We conclude by identifying interdisciplinary research priorities to develop socially robust designs.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗