Installing agrivoltaics on previously irrigated land could help minimize the losses from reducing groundwater use, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Water Resources Association.
As Nevada hurtles toward its goal of 100% renewable energy by 2025, rural communities around the state are confronting a parallel crisis: groundwater depletion.
But agrivoltaics, which is the pairing of solar with agriculture, on non-irrigated agricultural land could offer a solution.
The recent study, Rethinking Water Scarcity, Energy, and Agriculture: Coupling Agrivoltaics With Addressing Groundwater Depletion, published in the Journal of the American Water Resources Association highlighted agrivoltaics as a promising path toward environmental and economic resilience, assuming infrastructure and policy can keep pace.
The study focused on Diamond Valley, a rural farming community in central Nevada that’s facing mandatory cuts in groundwater usage. There, decades of over-pumping for agricultural irrigation have dropped aquifer levels by 100 feet in the last 60 years. The court-mandated water limits mean that some farmland will need to come out of production.
Rather than leave that land fallow, the researchers suggested transitioning previously irrigated land to agrivoltaic sites, which “can provide simultaneous benefits of reducing water use while increasing renewable energy generation on already disturbed land.”
Diamond Valley is well-situated for dual-use projects, thanks to its high solar irradiation levels, flat topography and proximity to current and future transmission lines that appeal to solar developers. And, the land is privately, not publicly, owned, which means that projects aren’t subject to the lengthy environmental impact reviews required by the National Environmental Policy Act. This streamlines development.
Still, barriers remain.
The authors noted that despite the favorable soil and sun conditions in arid places like Diamond Valley, transmission capacity is a limiting factor for how many projects can actually get built. Without major grid upgrades, they said, including the long-planned Greenlink North transmission line, much of Diamond Valley’s solar potential could remain stranded.
According to the study, many landowners are also hesitant to enter into solar contracts and power purchase agreements due to the perceived financial risks or fears of environmental liabilities.
But the income earned from solar leases can often stave off that fear, as the extra cash can help offset volatile crop revenues. And, installing agrivoltaics can actually save farmers money compared to installing solar alone without continuing to farm.
The authors said that under Nevada tax code, maintaining agricultural activities like dryland grazing or native grass cultivation at their solar sites can preserve reduced property tax rates tied to agricultural use instead of those tied to energy production. Agrivoltaics could also ease aesthetic concerns around large-scale solar farms and open doors for agritourism, both of which the study said are gaining traction in rural communities.
While the viability of agrivoltaics in low-precipitation, non-irrigated settings like Diamond Valley hasn’t been widely studied, early results are promising. For instance, crested wheatgrass and other forage crops can thrive with minimal water. Solar panels also improve soil moisture retention and can, in some cases, enable rainwater harvesting.
The study concluded that a coordinated strategy that links groundwater rights retirement, land conservation and agrivoltaic development could be what Nevada’s rural communities need to turn a groundwater crisis into a clean energy opportunity.
“Maximizing economic gains from photovoltaics and remaining agriculture,” the authors said, “can help minimize the losses from reducing groundwater use.”
