Team Pasture Powered, comprised of College students Charles White, Eric Fang, Iris Badezet-Delory, Jesenia Parthasarathy, and Jackson Slater, won first place in the 2025 Climate Case Competition. The team’s proposal combined solar energy generation and cattle grazing.
“I came in not really knowing anything about agrivoltaics or energy production in general, but through research with this wonderful team, I learned a lot,” said Parthasarathy. “I also learned that this field is quite understudied, so it’s not just me that doesn’t know a lot — the world is still learning a lot about agrivoltaics. I’m very excited that we got to contribute some part of that.”
As utility-scale solar expands across the United States, competition for prime development land is increasing—often putting clean energy projects at odds with agricultural production. Team Pasture Powered proposed a scalable “cattle-voltaic” model that enables solar developers to partner with local dairy farmers by grazing young heifers (6 months – 2 years old) beneath solar panels. This dual-use strategy offers operational cost savings for developers by replacing mowing with managed grazing, while helping dairy farmers avoid the significant costs of transporting heifers to Western rangeland for pasture access.
In the short term, the team recommended piloting this model on a smaller section of Acciona’s planned 300 MW solar project in Will County, Illinois. Minimal infrastructure adjustments—such as relocating inverters outside paddocks and installing woven wire fencing—would enable grazing without altering standard solar array design. This pilot would validate the model’s performance across four key metrics: vegetation control, solar output, animal health, and soil quality.
If successful, the project would serve as a blueprint for a second-phase site in Wisconsin, closer to high-density dairy operations. The Wisconsin project would be purpose-built for agrivoltaics from day one, incorporating rotational paddock systems, water access infrastructure, and state-level agricultural incentives.
In the long term, the team envisions expanding this model to accommodate full-size cattle on Western rangelands by modifying panel spacing and racking height. This could unlock millions of acres of U.S. grazing land for renewable energy development that wouldn’t otherwise be available, all without displacing agriculture.
By aligning the economic incentives of solar developers and livestock producers, this cattle-voltaic approach delivers measurable benefits in carbon sequestration, biodiversity, rural economic development, and land use efficiency. With a positive NPV to both dairy farmers and solar developers, it is a no-brainer partnership, the team says. It provides a practical, scalable path for dual-use solar to expand beyond these initial test projects and into the mainstream of US energy and agriculture.
Sumedh Wargantiwar and Alberto Saldarriaga served as graduate mentors for team Pasture Powered.