On a gentle summer morning in southern Virginia, beneath rows of sleek solar panels, a flock of lambs grazes contentedly as half a million bees hum in an edge‑of‑site apiary. It’s a scene that feels almost surreal—and yet, it’s quietly revolutionizing how we think about renewable energy, agriculture, and community resilience.
Solar Fields Become Lush Pastures And Apiary Havens
At the 620‑acre Crystal Hill Solar site in Halifax County, Virginia, developer Urban Grid has embraced a pioneering agrivoltaic model. Their 65‑megawatt solar farm—which powers around 10,800 homes—has been integrated with local farming in two remarkable ways: a flock of grass‑fed lambs maintains vegetation and a 10‑hive apiary houses roughly 500,000 honeybees.
Working in partnership with Gray’s Lambscaping, the lambs graze between the solar panels, cutting mowing expenses by more than half—while enjoying the added shade from the panels.
Meanwhile, the apiary—managed in collaboration with Siller Pollinator Company—was installed to produce an estimated 400 pounds of honey annually, set aside for local schools, food banks and faith‑based organizations.
A Win–Win For Farmers, Land And Biodiversity
For farmers like Gray, the agrivoltaic model offers stability and diversification in an unpredictable agricultural economy. Jess Gray, CEO of Gray’s Lambscaping, affirms: “Our animals are thriving out there… we’re practicing this idea of making [the land] better than before we got there.”
Similarly, Urban Grid’s Val Newcomb emphasizes that their initiatives support local farmers, build a “new sheep economy,” and enhance soil health. The benefits of rotational grazing are evident: sheep deposit nutrients back into the soil, reducing erosion and promoting carbon sequestration.
Meanwhile, the apiary introduces ecological gains. Siller Pollinator Company and Urban Grid are conducting a multi‑year ecological study—sampling honey, evaluating pollen profiles, monitoring vegetation growth, and comparing conditions across the site—to understand pollinator interactions within a solar environment. A three-acre rotational crop will further test food‑crop integration.
Broader Momentum And Policy Support
Virginia is among several states—alongside Maryland, Minnesota, and New York—that have adopted pollinator‑friendly solar scorecards and programs to guide agrivoltaic development.
The Virginia Pollinator‑Smart Solar Program, supported by multiple state agencies, incentivizes solar developers to meet biodiversity standards, helping to quell community resistance to industrial‑scale solar.
On a national level, U.S. farmers are increasingly finding that sheep grazing on solar arrays can be more profitable than planting crops—one Texas farmer reported a $300,000 profit from solar grazing versus a projected $200,000 loss from cotton.
The American Solar Grazing Association supports this trend—counting solar grazing as an agricultural innovation and mapping fast‑growing demand for sheep at solar sites.
The Heart Of Agrivoltaics: Community, Research And Hope
This dimension unites all others—community‑centered research shaping the future of agrivoltaics. At Crystal Hill, Urban Grid and Siller are studying how pollinator activity affects vegetation health and neighboring farmlands. As Allison Wickham from Siller explains, “We’re not just placing hives… we’ll be analyzing pollen to identify what species bees are foraging… comparing site conditions near and far from the hives.”
Jeff Hudson, Urban Grid’s VP of Asset Management, emphasizes that the goal extends beyond energy production: it’s about “improving vegetation while producing energy… operating smarter while creating shared value for the communities we’re in.”
Their research insights will guide future habitat design, vegetation management, and ecological performance—not just at Crystal Hill but across Urban Grid’s expanding portfolio.
Optimism Rooted In Practical Impact
This isn’t a romanticized vision—they’re delivering tangible results:
- Economic resilience: Farmers receive steady income by leasing grazing rights, relieving their dependence on volatile crop markets.
- Environmental restoration: Grazing boosts soil nutrients and biodiversity under clean‑energy infrastructure.
- Pollinator preservation: Solar sites rich in native plantings support honeybees—critical allies in global agriculture—just as projects in Illinois, Vermont, and Kentucky demonstrate.
These positive stories continue across Virginia—Dominion Energy’s Black Bear Solar installed hives to protect pollinators, using native wildflowers and carefully screened apiary placements to support local biodiversity.
The response? A blend of excitement and scrutiny—while farmers welcome agrivoltaics, stakeholders are demanding rigorous evaluation of long‑term ecological outcomes.
A Brighter Future: Scaling Agrivoltaics Nationally
Boiling this down to its essence, agrivoltaics weaves together three threads: sustainability, economics, and community trust. Solar sites need land; farmland needs sustainable income; biodiversity needs protection.
Agrivoltaic systems meet all three needs—and in doing so, offer a template against climate change, soil degradation, and rural decline.
Urban Grid, now overseeing 1 GW of solar across 12 states with 12 GW in the pipeline, plans to replicate this model with grazing, beekeeping, and crop integration.
If successful, Crystal Hill will be much more than a pilot—it could become a blueprint for a more resilient agricultural and energy future.
Final Reflections
That morning in Halifax County, when sun filters through photovoltaic panels and bees hum across pollinator plots, a hopeful narrative unfolds—one grounded in research, rooted in community, and guided by shared purpose. It’s storytelling in motion: a place where energy, agriculture and ecology don’t compete but harmonize.
And while the lambs nibble and bees buzz, something far greater is taking flight—a model for a world where clean energy coexists with thriving farms, healthy soils, and vibrant ecosystems.
It may not be a silver bullet, but it could well be the beginning of a greener, more hopeful century.
Sources:
Eco Watch
