Sure, but given that a 100 acre corn farm in Ohio would make about $80k in revenue and if you're lucky about $40k in profit

A 100 acre solar plant in Ohio would make well about $1m-$1.5m in revenue

Why would you increase the cost and complexity to try to increase your revenue from $1-1.5m to a massive $1-1.5m?

Or you could just lease the land to a solar operator for about $100k a year, with no expenses

It's a solution looking for a problem.

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brainwad 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Don't know about the US, but where I live farmland is restrictively zoned to preserve its agricultural use. You can't just turn prime cropland into a (normal) solar power plant, but perhaps you can get away with this dual use trick.

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alex43578 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I wonder how little farming you’d have to do if this did count. Does letting a few sheep walk around a solar farm count? Growing a few strawberry plants? If the economics from elsewhere in thread are accurate, the farming feels like it would add 0 value other than the regulatory dodge, and would therefore be minimized.

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wtch98 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> Don't know about the US, but where I live farmland is restrictively zoned to preserve its agricultural use

So central land use planning? Rural America won't be that Commumist -- not even by law, just look at the way it votes.

Freedom means a farmer can do whatever they want with their land

	▲	brainwad 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Freedom-loving, R-voting America is full of restrictive zoning. I don't think it's necessarily the contradiction you make it out to be. Especially if, like here, the government doesn't tell you what or how to farm, only that farmland is for farming.

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dzhiurgis 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Solar plant in Ohio will likely require 50m in grid connection. If you find grid connection near the city the land there is likely more expensive and not growing corn but something more substantial.

What I'm saying - these dual-use agrivoltaics are for higher-margin crops, where land is somewhat constrained.

	▲	chasd00 an hour ago \| parent [-]
		> Solar plant in Ohio will likely require 50m in grid connection. there needs to be some way to harvest and transport electricity like you do corn or some other crop. Like an 18 wheeler size lipo that is charged up and delivered to a train of lipo cars and discharged. Then that train goes somewhere and connects to the grid and offloads all that electricity. Rinse/repeat. It's not as efficient as directly connecting ot the grid but maybe it's more feasible than waiting years for a grid connection.