Team Sustainable Freaks, comprised of College students Tae Kyeong Hong, David Edwards, Juliet Katz, Ralph Lam and Vickey Zhou, won second place in the 2025 Climate Case Competition. Their proposal integrates solar energy generation with grape farming on California vineyards.
“At first, when we started with our agrivoltaic system, we were a little bit discouraged,” said Edwards. “We thought, ‘Oh, this isn’t going to make financial sense. How do we make this work?’ But we realized once you get more creative with some solutions including partnering with the growers, providing more value for them, as well as taking advantage of some government programs, this can actually be a really profitable, and also beneficial, entity for the world.”
The team recommended that Acciona Energía implement a 10-vineyard agrivoltaics cluster system in California vineyards. This strategic expansion would leverage California’s favorable conditions, including strong renewable energy policies (RPS, IRA), advanced solar infrastructure, severe drought conditions, and vineyard oversupply challenges.
Vineyards are identified as ideal candidates for agrivoltaics integration due to their natural alignment with solar installation requirements: wide row spacing, manual harvesting methods, shade tolerance, and the industry’s need to manage crop yield. The proposed cluster model features a central 30MW grid connection serving 10-vineyard clusters, avoiding repeated utility negotiations while creating a scalable template.
Financial analysis shows the investment ($56.8M total cost, $38M net after ITC credits) generates annual cash flows of $3.7M with an approximate 10-year payback period. The model assumes no land lease costs due to the value-add for vineyard owners. Revenue comes from electricity sales at $70/MWh and ITC tax credit monetization.
The strategy creates benefits across multiple stakeholders:
- For Acciona: Portfolio diversification, US market expansion, and mission alignment with
sustainability goals - For vineyards: Reduced energy and water costs (saving ~14M gallons annually),
improved grape quality, and enhanced sustainability branding - For environment: Increased biodiversity (80% pollinator boost), drought resilience, and
decarbonization
Key risks are addressed through mitigation strategies, including AI-optimized panel placement to prevent yield reduction, attractive value propositions to overcome adoption resistance, and strategic installation timing to avoid crop damage.
The implementation roadmap prioritizes stakeholder engagement across three phases: securing vineyard buy-in by demonstrating microclimate benefits, negotiating with regulatory bodies for favorable policy treatment, and collaborating with specialized PV developers for standardization and scale.
Southeastern Texas vineyards are identified as a promising secondary market with compatible conditions and energy community designations qualifying for enhanced ITC rates.
Sarah Dunn and Anisha Jain served as graduate mentors for team Sustainable Freaks.