A new resource is now available to help landowners and solar developers unlock the benefits of combining agriculture with solar energy. The Agrivoltaics Handbook, developed by Farm Renewables Consulting and Progressive Agriculture with support from EnergyCo, offers practical guidance on integrating farming practices into solar energy projects. The handbook provides: [...]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtBN-2cNf84 Doctors Ian Goodwin and Alessio Scalisi from Agriculture Victoria present findings from their leading four-year agrivoltaics experiment at the Tatura SmartFarm, Panels Over Pears. This research is among the first worldwide to deliver results on the long-term impacts of solar panels over fruit crops. The study [...]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dShTcs6gWsE Wilandra farms has integrated the automation of 22 ha of fixed spray irrigation and a 50 kW solar array. The automation programming maximises solar usage by matching available energy to spray operation, whilst also scheduling irrigation sections, all automatically. This has resulted in: 22 ha irrigated effectively [...]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ff1Sbfd-owk Do you want to know more about the renewable energy transition and the processes involved with renewable energy developments? At times, landowners in suitable areas are contacted by developers exploring potential locations for solar farms, wind farms or battery energy storage systems for connection to the electricity [...]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANp48Qv1BTk The Agriculture Energy Investment Plan has supported agricultural businesses to reduce energy costs, improve energy efficiency and explore alternative energy options through energy assessments, grants, demonstrations, research and extension. Agriculture Victoria hosted a webinar to share insights and key findings from the research and demonstration projects completed [...]
As most rural communities would be aware, interest from energy companies in building commercial scale solar farms has never been higher. Among the numerous concerns expressed by potential neighbours and objectors to solar projects is that they cause a loss of prime agricultural land. In 2020, the provision of Agriculture [...]
Agriculture Victoria has analysed data from 680 on-farm energy assessments and 320 grants to create a unique summary of Victoria’s on-farm energy use and improvements. This is a very large sample from approximately 1,300 free on-farm energy assessments and 650 grants provided under Victoria’s Agriculture Energy Investment Plan (AEIP Program) [...]
As part of the NSW Climate Change Research Strategy, NSW Department of Primary Industries implemented 7 energy pilot projects across 8 sites to demonstrate innovative technologies and practices to improve on-farm energy efficiency, energy security and productivity and to reduce on-farm energy use, costs and emissions. The pilots were chosen [...]
https://youtu.be/6E_xXXo35So Wilandra farm has been on a journey to reduce irrigation energy costs and maximise the utilisation of PV solar energy generated. The farm’s energy bills for irrigation were about $100,000 per year. The owners of Wilandra farm, Sandra Jefford and Wilco Droppert had an energy audit completed [...]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SANQ6DJw0c Peter Doolan is a third-generation dairy farmer at Doolan Farms. Peter share farms with his brother Sam, their wives and his parents in Ecklin South, southwest Victoria milking 600 cows on about 280 hectares. Milk cooling and water heating made up approximately two thirds of the farm’s [...]
