EAST LANSING, Mich. (WILX) – Solar panels and a farmer’s crops already have a key factor in common… sunlight.
But, can they coexist in a shared space?
“Solar arrays are being rapidly built across the country, and indeed, across the globe,” says Dr. Anthony Kendall, a Michigan State University researcher.
“One of the areas most available to build on are our farms.”
Dr. Kendall is part of an interdisciplinary team studying how existing solar parks affect the surrounding soil and ecosystems.
“I’m a hydrologist; I study water in the environment,” Dr. Kendall says.
“We’re working with engineers, with ecologists, with agronomists, who look at the agricultural production.”
As part of a five-year, $3.6 million grant from the National Science Foundation, the team plans to build an outdoor lab to study how solar panels placed alongside crops can save water, improve soil health and support ecosystems.
“There are some really positive benefits that solar arrays can provide to the land and to the community,” Dr. Kendall mentions.
“They have to be designed carefully and with those benefits in mind.”
The initial lab will be constructed at Michigan State’s Kellogg Biological Station and will be small, but the group hopes it will eventually lead to a world-class, 15-acre facility.
“That’s one of the really big legacies that we hope to see of this project,” Dr. Kendall adds.
“This facility that can help researchers both now and for, really, decades to come.”
MSU research associate Jake Stid’s work work shows that farmers can utilize unproductive patches of field with strategic placement of solar arrays, while still growing food.
“We have the opportunity for them to give back to the land,” Stid says.
“To the people who depend on them and the ecosystems they touch.”
The team adds that this project is a great opportunity where our energy systems can do more than just produce electricity. You can learn more about the team and their work at the link below:
msutoday.msu.edu/news/2025/10/farming-meets-solar-power-in-new-msu-project
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