Welcome to the Clean Power Hour! Today we are joined by Alexis Pascaris, Founder and CEO of Agrisolar Consulting, a company on a mission to promote dual use solar and agrivoltaics.
Alexis has a Master of Science degree in Environmental & Energy Policy and a B.S. in Environmental Studies & Sustainability. She joins Tim Montague to talk about integrating solar PV with Agriculture. She discusses when and how she got interested in agrisolar, the difference between Agrisolar and Agrivoltaics, what crops can be integrated with Solar harvesting, the solution to the pushback against large-scale solar development, and much more.
Don’t miss this exciting episode of the Clean Power Hour, as Alexis Pascaris shares her knowledge and experience on advancing agrivoltaics and solar-agriculture integration. Together, we can learn more about the solutions and strategies to accelerate clean energy development and energy transition.
Tune in to gain insights into how agrivoltaics can be integrated with solar harvesting to create a more sustainable, renewable energy future.
Key Takeaways
1. When and how Alexis got interested in agrisolar
2. The difference between Agrisolar and Agrivoltaics
3. What crops can be integrated with Large Scale Solar farming
4. The solution to the pushback against large-scale solar development
3 Comments
6:15 “I found myself coming from an angry space to a space of action, where I am now.” Love this! This should be the mantra for anyone who is “passionate” about sustainability and the clean energy transition. First be passionate, but then equip yourself with the skills you can use to move into a state of action. Alexis perfectly sums up how we make progress!
Thank you Tim and Alexis, for a highly informative, insightful and engaging conversation. Very uplifting and let's all make agrivoltaics go into a viral spiral worldwide!!
I'm going to have to listen to this multiple times and take some notes.
Interesting on NJ not allowing solar farms on agricultural land.
One of my favorite articles was written by Bill Nussey on his freeingenergy blog: "Making ethanol from corn is the least efficient use of farmland". IIRC, he says the PV solar + EV system is 70x more efficient. I did the math and came up with something more like 30-40x. Stated in joules, PV is 16x the energy of ethanol, and add the efficiency of the motor vs. ICE. But the article doesn't even consider the inputs to these systems, which likely further favor PV – the input of the solar array production vs. 20+ years of fertilizer, fermentation, distilling, etc. And add the benefits of giving the soil a lengthy rest to allow it to lose chemical residues and gain carbon and something a lot more similar to its natural microbiome. Maybe NJ should ban corn!