InSPIRE
InSPIRE
InSPIRE
Innovative Solar Practices Integrated with Rural Economies and Ecosystems
Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and managed by NREL
The InSPIRE project explores the environmental compatibility and mutual benefits of solar development with agriculture and native landscapes.
InSPIRE field-based research objectives
Agrivoltaics is the pairing of solar and agriculture for shared benefits. The InSPIRE project unites field research across the United States with advanced modeling and analysis capabilities to provide foundational and actionable data on agrivoltaics and low-impact solar development, while also highlighting region-specific benefits and tradeoffs to ecosystems, grazing habitat, and crop production.
Taking place for the 5th time and spreading over all five continents, the AgriVoltaics World Conference 2024 provides high-level scientific exchange and great networking opportunities. It unites the global community working on dual-use solutions in the belief that agrivoltaics at multiple scales can help building food-energy-water resilience. The AgriVoltaics World Conference 2024 will be held on June 11-13 in Denver, CO, USA.
Research Objectives
We explore solar and environmental synergies through four core research areas:
- Demonstrating mutual benefits to energy, water, and agricultural sectors through field research and installations,
- Conducting long-term ecosystem impact assessments,
- Assessing the current state of knowledge, practice, and research gaps of agrivoltaics, and
- Evaluating economic tradeoffs of combined solar and agricultural systems.
By using consistent, peer-reviewed methods across all field research sites, we seek to ensure comparability of findings across geographies and system configurations.
InSPIRE analyzes the ecological and economic implications of:
- Growing native vegetation for habitat and ecosystem services under and around ground-mounted solar installations,
- Growing agricultural crops under innovative solar configurations and irrigation regimes,
- Applying low-impact solar development approaches to improve soil quality, carbon storage, stormwater management, microclimate conditions, and solar efficiencies
- Adopting pollinator-friendly solar practices to host beneficial insects and boost local agricultural yields, and
- Grazing animals under panels to provide vegetation management and ecological services.
Resources
Peer-reviewed InSPIRE publications
Free analysis tool for agrivoltaics planning
Explore an archive of agrivoltaics research
Agrivoltaic success factors in the United States
Advisory Group
The Agriculture and Solar Together: Research Opportunities (ASTRO) advisory group provides feedback to the InSPIRE project on research directions and study designs while also facilitating the dissemination of results to relevant stakeholders.
ASTRO group members come from across the United States and represent leading solar industry partners, state agencies, and other organizations focused on research, food and agriculture, and the environment. They help to ensure InSPIRE project research activities meet the most pressing needs of industry and the agricultural community.
Contact
Jordan Macknick, Principal Investigator
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
| (303) 275-3828
This project is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and managed by NREL.
InSPIRE