Improving Dual-Use Farming with TrackerSleds
The purpose of the research was to design a new solar PV system, built on work done previously for the Solar Prize that optimized solar and agricultural production in rural communities while reducing cost, facilitating installation, and improving yield. The research included customer discovery, software design, and detailed engineering of a modular platform designed to be assembled onsite at a staging yard and towed into position on an agricultural field. Once an array of platforms is cabled together to aggregate energy production, owners can invert the DC power to use onsite or export it to a local distribution grid. Since the platforms are agnostic to ground and subsoil conditions, owners do not need to pay for surveying or geotechnical testing. In addition, owners can space the columns of platforms in the array to accommodate equipment or optimize agricultural yields for livestock grazing, cover crop production, or cash crop production. The research findings concluded farmers and ranchers were more suitable potential customers than rural electric member cooperatives, who did not exhibit comparable entrepreneurial intentions. With the platforms’ simplicity, unsophisticated farmers and ranchers can build solar farms without involving solar developers or consultants. The potential applications of the research include dual-use farms where farmers and ranchers can self-consume the electricity to generate clean fuels and nitrogen fertilizer onsite, achieving carbon-free farming.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence P Kearns dba TrackerSled
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0021931
- OSTI ID:
- 1837007
- Type / Phase:
- SBIR (Phase I)
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-TrackerSled-21931-1
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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