HOPKINS COUNTY, Texas — Clouds skated across the sky as sunshine poked through, reflecting off the sea of solar panels beneath it.
A soft wind brushed across the grass as a few sheep poked their heads between the panels.
One let out a brief “baa.”
A tour group on the other side of the fence cooed at the fluffy white animals and snapped photos before turning their attention back to JR Howard, who was explaining how he rotates the thousands of sheep through different pastures.
The sheep, unbothered, continued chomping on the grass. After all, these white Dorpers are better known for their appetite than their wool.
More than two dozen curious farmers, ranchers, environmentalists, energy industry employees and more convened in northeast Texas recently to learn about agrivoltaics.
Agrivoltaics, also known as solar grazing, is a newish practice that uses the same land for solar energy and agriculture. It’s turned industrial solar farms, like Stampede Solar near Saltillo, into a chance for Texas farmers and ranchers to generate vital profits.
Solar grazing operations are happening on more than 130,000 acres across 500 sites in 30 states, including roughly 68,000 acres in Texas, according to industry data. The efforts involve at least 170 solar companies.
Some ranchers, like Howard who owns Texas Solar Sheep, have been contracting out their herd and supplemental vegetation and land services for years.
Now others want in, especially as Texas adds more solar panels, wind turbines and battery storage at an expedited rate to meet its ever-growing power needs.
Interest in solar grazing has ballooned in recent years, prompting a need for training and informational sessions across the nation, including on a recent spring day at The Depot in Sulphur Springs.
The American Farmland Trust hosted the Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education training with Howard, Ely Valdez, who is known as the “godfather of solar grazing,” the American Solar Grazing Association, and Enel North America, the energy company that owns Stampede.
Howard said he’s happy to host and educate.
“I’m not greedy,” he said. “We need as many people doing this as possible.”
‘KEEP AGRICULTURE ALIVE’
Roughly 3.7 million acres of working lands in Texas were converted to nonagricultural use between 1997 and 2022, according to data analyzed by the Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute.
That includes a decrease of more than 2.1 million acres in grazing land between 2017 and 2022.
Solar grazing advocates say this is a way to keep ranch and farmlands in agriculture as Texas continues to lead the nation in solar development.
The grass and plants growing on solar farms needs to be managed. If it grows too tall, it can block the solar panels with shade, making them less efficient, or become a fire hazard.
Sheep have become the best option for this practice. They graze mostly without issue, unlike goats that jump on the panels and nibble at wires or cattle that are too large to maneuver around standard-sized panels.
“This is the perfect intersection to keep agriculture alive,” said Garrett Bader, American Farmland Trust’s Texas Smart Solar specialist. “It keeps farmers and ranchers in the industry by providing them another option for income.”
Bader said agrivoltaics is a way to protect working lands and ensure communities are positioned to benefit from changes like a solar farm being installed.
“It’s really just ranching with solar panels in the way,” Howard agreed. “This makes it so it doesn’t have to be power or agriculture, it can be both.”
Before getting into the business, Howard was skeptical. He said he thought solar panels ruined a place but eventually saw it as an opportunity to gain access to more land.
He had to convince the energy companies as well.
“Five years ago I had people laughing at me when I asked to put sheep on a solar site,” Howard said. “That’s changed now.”
Howard’s thousands of sheep on sites throughout Texas do more than half the vegetation maintenance and the rest is mowed where the machinery can fit. He’s even expanded his business to include growing and harvesting hay from the areas between the panels that get sunlight.
It’s a win-win.
The farmer or rancher gets a reliable source of income, the land stays — or returns to — agricultural use, and the solar company gets a less costly service while being a good neighbor.
There can be challenges for the ranchers, like the financial burden of starting any business, the cost of commercial liability, lack of infrastructure like watering holes on site, and the responsibility of caring for the sheep like parasite prevention and protection from predators.
OPPORTUNITY BEYOND RIGHT NOW
Kevin Richardson, senior director of the American Solar Grazing Association, said agrivoltaics isn’t easy.
This involves someone becoming a professional service provider, he said, not unleashing sheep onto the land and not thinking about it again.
“This is the biggest opportunity the sheep industry will ever have,” Richardson said, noting Texas by far has the most acres with solar grazing of any state.
There’s been so much success with solar grazing in the last few years, he said, exploration has begun on whether sites can be altered to use cattle or more crops.
Valdez, owner of Solar Farm Services based in San Antonio, was an early adopter in 2015. What began as managing sheep on the solar project across from his home has turned into a large-scale multistate operation.
Valdez said it’s a blessing that he’s been able to help others, including Howard, join the industry but he also sees a future where this is the standard.
“In the last four years, the industry has really developed and changed,” Valdez said. “I see a world where my kids and grandkids could do this. This can be multigenerational.”
After a morning of classroom presentations and chatting with experts, the training group suited up in hard hats and visited Enel’s 326-megawatt Stampede site.
For some, this was their first time up close with solar panels. They were able to watch the bifacial photovoltaic panels rotate to constantly face the sun and learn how the sunlight’s energy is harnessed and transferred to an onsite Oncor substation and battery energy storage systems.
Then, Howard led a caravan of the visitors to another part of the property.
As he followed a curve on the dirt road, he honked his horn, signaling it’s dinnertime.
A herd flowed toward the vehicles and stared. Some people were giddy with excitement, having waited all day to finally see the sheep.
Jesse Puckett, senior community relations manager with Enel Green Power, said the tours can be a life-changing experience, especially for the customers and school kids that visit sites and see the sheep “frolicking.”
“It brings a different kind of smile to their face,” Puckett said.
Puckett said Enel has always been a pioneer in these kinds of innovative projects.
“We didn’t put sheep grazing as a requirement,” he said. “What we said was we want to manage vegetation, and we want to partner with experts that can do that. … Not only does it meet our needs but it also is a cost-effective solution, it reduces emissions from large equipment on site, it cuts down significantly on all the noise pollution for local landowners. So, there’s all these different intangible benefits that come with sheep grazing.”
Some Texans — including ones living in Hopkins and Franklin counties who have made their thoughts on industrial solar clear with red yard signs opposing large-scale sites — are worried about the current and future effects these projects will have on the community.
Others, including the solar grazers, have decided to take the chance to work alongside the industry in hopes the positive outcomes can prevail.
“Sometimes this creates more agricultural production on that site than before,” Howard said. “The more we let people know what’s going on, they can understand the impact is there.”
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