Farmer makes surprising discovery after letting sheep graze under solar panels: ‘It’s such a blessing’

Farmers like Jess Gray, the CEO of Gray’s LAMBscaping, are turning to agrivoltaics for agricultural and energy-generating benefits.

Gray’s sheep farming business has come a long way since she and her husband started it in 2021. What began with 30 sheep on their family farm turned into a flock of 1,300, which wouldn’t have been possible without the help of agrivoltaics to boost their income.

Atmos explained that the Grays’ sheep graze on roughly 4,000 acres of land co-located with solar energy sites, and the family earns additional income by charging grazing fees to the solar developers.

“It’s such a blessing,” Gray said.

As the nonprofit media outlet Atmos reported, the agrivoltaics setup even kept her sheep safe from a major ice storm in Virginia earlier this year, as they were able to take shelter under the “roof-like structures.”

While Gray farms sheep for their meat, she noted that raising sheep under solar panels has notable advantages for the animals’ wool, a finding also reported by solar companies like Lightsource bp.

“If we can create an environment with less stress, the effort going into the fleece is going to be better,” Gray told Atmos, implying that the shade provided by solar panels protects sheep from extreme weather, thereby improving fleece production.

Meanwhile, in addition to the shade, the solar panels reduce dust in the environment and allow the grass to retain more moisture, thus boosting its nutritional content. This all benefits wool growth.

Agrivoltaics benefits both sheep farmers and solar energy companies. The former typically experiences higher productivity and yields, along with lower energy bills, and the latter enjoys low-cost, sustainable vegetation management thanks to “lambscaping.”

“We’re practicing this idea of making [land] better than before we got there,” Gray told The Appalachian Voice. “When it gets returned to farmland, it’s going to be thriving farmland. We’re putting in more than we’re taking out.”

“And I wish more people would recognize that dual-use solar is a fantastic idea because we’re getting clean energy but also taking time and almost letting the field be fallow again,” she added.

As Atmos reported, the practice of agrivoltaics among farmers is gaining popularity, with the American Solar Grazing Association finding that over 130,000 acres of solar sites were grazed by livestock across 500 sites in 2024.

There are numerous ways for farmers and solar providers to earn income while helping the environment with agrivoltaics, and it appears the energy and agricultural revolution is just getting started.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for rural communities,” Dr. Stacie Peterson, the American Solar Grazing Association’s executive director, told Atmos. “They haven’t seen an opportunity like this since the railroads.”

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