The sheep belong to Chad Raines, owner of Key Farms in Lamesa, Tex., and they are part of a new initiative called solar grazing. In addition to providing a low cost, eco-friendly mowing service to energy companies, Raines manages a solar site that provides an estimated 586 gigawatts annually to the [booming Texas solar industry](https://www.seia.org/state-solar-policy/texas-solar?itid=lk_inline_enhanced-template).
“We still farm and do everything we used to,” said Raines, “except underneath solar panels.”
“The most existential threat to our industry is not global pandemics, it’s not who is in the White House, it’s not supply chain issues or the war in Ukraine,” said Matt Beasley, chief commercial officer for Silicon Ranch Corp., a solar energy company. “It’s local opposition, all centered around land-use questions.”
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At the [Azure Sky](https://www.enelgreenpower.com/our-projects/under-construction/azure-sky-solar-storage-project?itid=lk_inline_enhanced-template) solar and storage project in Haskell County, Tex., 700,000 photovoltaic panels stretch in uniform rows across the desert landscape, shimmering under a relentless summer sun. Beneath the panels, hundreds of Dorper sheep graze on Bermuda and Johnson grasses, driven there by two border collies named Bucky and Johnny.
The sheep belong to Chad Raines, owner of Key Farms in Lamesa, Tex., and they are part of a new initiative called solar grazing. In addition to providing a low cost, eco-friendly mowing service to energy companies, Raines manages a solar site that provides an estimated 586 gigawatts annually to the [booming Texas solar industry](https://www.seia.org/state-solar-policy/texas-solar?itid=lk_inline_enhanced-template).
“We still farm and do everything we used to,” said Raines, “except underneath solar panels.”
According to the Energy Department, decarbonizing the electricity grid by 2050 will require solar power to [provide nearly half of all U.S. energy production](https://www.cnet.com/home/energy-and-utilities/gigawatt-the-solar-energy-term-you-should-know-about/?itid=lk_inline_enhanced-template), up from just 3.4 percent today. To meet these federally mandated climate goals, the solar industry [requires land](https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2021-09/Solar%20Futures%20Study.pdf?itid=lk_inline_enhanced-template), and lots of it, but many rural and predominantly conservative areas remain unfriendly to [renewable](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2023/renewable-energy-land-use-wind-solar/?itid=lk_inline_enhanced-template) energy.
“The most existential threat to our industry is not global pandemics, it’s not who is in the White House, it’s not supply chain issues or the war in Ukraine,” said Matt Beasley, chief commercial officer for Silicon Ranch Corp., a solar energy company. “It’s local opposition, all centered around land-use questions.”
As a result, [hundreds of wind and solar projects fail ](https://robertbryce.com/renewable-rejection-database/?itid=lk_inline_enhanced-template)each year.
Read more here: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2024/solar-farms-agriculture-agrivoltaics/?itid=hp_business-tech_p007_f001?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit.com](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2024/solar-farms-agriculture-agrivoltaics/?itid=hp_business-tech_p007_f001?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit.com)