The Kegonsa Research Campus opened for its second season of studying 'agrivoltaics' this summer
As solar power makes up a bigger piece of our electricity puzzle, there’s a worry about a trade-off, especially in rural areas: If we build more solar farms, are we losing land for crops?
But University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists are asking the question: Why can’t we have both?
“Agrivoltaics” is a concept that brings together solar panels and food production in the same field, in a way that allows the two to work together. For example, some crops and livestock can benefit from the partial shade the panels provide.
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Researchers are working to figure out the best ways to put agrivoltaics into action, and carefully measuring things like water use, soil carbon levels and wind patterns.
“Wisconsin Today” visited the UW-Madison Kegonsa Research Campus solar array just west of Lake Kegonsa.
There are 5,424 solar panels on the nearly 17-acre site. The panels are arranged in a variety of ways to help measure things like sunlight, crop growth and possible animal grazing.
“What we’re talking about here are utility-grade solar arrays that need to provide power for the grid, so they need to be relatively large,” Ankur Desai, chair of the department of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at UW-Madison, told WPR”s “Wisconsin Today.”
“To allow farming to happen requires a lot of consideration about the spacing, what crops you can grow and how much that changes things like the local water cycle or nutrient delivery,” Desai said.
The Kegonsa site opened in 2025 and is expected to last 25 years. Researchers from a variety of scientific specialties will begin collecting data each spring.
They hope to publish findings in scientific journals over the lifespan of the site. Through educational outreach, they also plan to bring farmers along to learn about opportunities for them.
There are several towers on site called “flux towers” that measure things like moisture content, wind and the exchange of energy and gasses between the land surface and the atmosphere.
This agrivoltaics site is one of the few in the world that uses these flux towers, Desai said. The tower in the middle of the site extends 100 feet high.
In addition to research on how the solar panels impact the agricultural land, the Kegonsa array is also generating electricity for an estimated 1,000 homes.
“The world needs energy to do all the things it wants to do and that demand is only increasing with time,” Desai said.
“That energy needs to come from multiple sources and right now with a changing climate and with all of the demands on energy, solar energy is one of our best options globally and nationally and in Wisconsin.”
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