Solar and crops at Piedmont Environmental Council’s Roundabout Meadows Community Farm in Loudoun County, VA. Photo by Hugh Kenny.

Virginia’s first crop-based agrivoltaic project, meaning using the same land for both growing crops and solar energy production, is now online! Our Partners at Piedmont Environmental Council have developed a dual-purpose solar + agriculture project at its 170-acre Roundabout Meadows Community Farm in Loudoun County. The quarter-acre agrivoltaics project – the first crop-based project of its kind in the State of Virginia – combines food production with on-site clean energy generation on the same plot of land, growing vegetables under 42 solar panels.

Agrivoltaics are ground-mounted solar projects where agricultural activities such as animal grazing, foraging, or crop production are simultaneously taking place alongside clean energy generation. Also referred to as agrisolar or dual-use solar.

 Fall crops planted beneath solar panels at Piedmont Environmental Council’s Roundabout Meadows Community Farm in Loudoun County, VA. Photo by Hugh Kenny.

Since the system has been connected, the farm’s well pumps, produce cooler and greenhouse have run on 100% solar and battery storage on multiple days and even kept running when the grid was recently down.

• The solar panels generate 130% of the entire farm’s electricity need.  
• Battery backup allows the farm to maintain essential operations during power outages
• Solar energy can earn revenue by selling power back to the grid at times when energy is most needed.
• Crops are growing underneath energy-producing solar panels. 
• The panels create shade conditions that researchers believe may actually help some crops grow more consistently.

Roundabout Meadows itself operates as a community resource and uses regenerative practices to grow 50,000 pounds of organic vegetables annually, all of which is donated to local food pantries. 

Aerial view of Piedmont Environmental Council’s agrivoltaics project at Roundabout Meadows Community Farm in Loudoun County, VA. Photo by Hugh Kenny.

Thoughtfully developed agrivoltaics that incorporate best practices to minimize land impacts allows our rural economies to thrive by protecting farm businesses from escalating electric bills and diversifying their revenue streams.

This dual-benefit solar project can be replicated on many sites like farms, wineries, and breweries More than an agricultural experiment, this project can help change how Virginia thinks about energy and farming by:

• Helping our transition to more clean energy while also preserving prime agricultural land
• Protecting farmers and farm businesses from escalating energy bills
• Creating energy independence for farmers, landowners and Virginia, especially when battery backup is added
• Decreasing overall power load on the grid–and associated costs on ratepayers
• Lessening the need and impacts of new transmission and generation infrastructure
• Lessening energy demand costs to ratepayers
• Connecting energy quickly to the grid at a time when we need it most

Watch Piedmont Environmental Council’s progress in building Virginia’s first crop-based agrivoltaic project through a series of videos.