Mammoth Solar is partnering with Purdue University and Nextpower on the Midwest Agrivoltaics for Resilient Communities initiative.
The 1.3-gigawatt solar farm under construction in Starke and Pulaski counties joined the project, which looks at how solar farms can still be used as working farmland. The project aims to strengthen rural Midwest communities that face challenges such as rising energy demand and extreme weather, including hailstorms, high winds and heat waves.
“Mammoth Solar brings practical expertise in large-scale solar development and dual-use practices,” said Ed Baptista, Doral Renewables vice president of development and agrivoltaics. “By dedicating space for crop trials and harnessing Purdue and Nextpower’s expertise, we aim to show that agrivoltaics can provide reliable power, protect agricultural productivity, and strengthen rural economies against climate and market disruptions.”
The Midwest Agrivoltaics for Resilient Communities, or MARC, initiative is being pursued through the National Science Foundation’s Regional Resilience Innovation Incubator program. The group is seeking a $15 million grant to expand its research.
Mammoth Solar is dedicating part of its solar farm in Pulaski and Starke counties as a demonstration zone for research, including crop trials, robotics testing and advanced monitoring systems. The aim is to assess how agrivoltaics can improve land use and agricultural performance.
“Agrivoltaics is already well established in other markets like Europe, and this initiative is an important opportunity to advance dual-use solar in the U.S.,” said Jake Morin, Nextpower chief product officer. “At Nextpower, our approach to resilience is grounded in research and field experience across more than 150 gigawatts of systems operating in diverse terrain and extreme weather conditions. We’re proud to partner with Purdue University and Doral on research that applies that experience to agrivoltaics, helping landowners and rural communities better understand how solar infrastructure and agriculture can work together to enhance productivity and resilience.”
The research will look at how to best integrate solar farms with farmland in order to diversify revenue, maximize land use and insurance against economic losses from crop damage. It will also test how agrivoltaic systems perform under severe weather conditions to look to minimize power outages caused by storms.
“When hail ruins a harvest, heat strains livestock, or windstorms cut electricity, farmers and their communities are hit hard,” said Dan Chavas, principal investigator at Purdue University. “Our goal is to understand how agrivoltaics can make our nation’s rural communities more resilient and prosperous.”
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