Agrivoltaics: A more sustainable future for us all

Located at Jack's Solar Garden - our country's premier site for agrivoltaics, The Colorado Agrivoltaic Learning Center showcases clean energy generation coupled with local food production to inspire and educate our community into taking action to improve land stewardship within solar arrays. Through educational tours and events, we aim to inspire the next generation of environmental stewards to think differently about our growing food, water and land use challenges and imagine a more sustainable future for us all. 

"Agrivoltaics" most simply put, is solar energy above agriculture. For us, it's the combination of renewable energy and good land stewardship. With 3,276 panels, Jack's Solar Garden is a 4-acre community solar garden producing enough clean energy for more than 300 homes in our area. We partner with Colorado State University, the University of Arizona, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Sprout City Farms to learn what happens to crops, grasslands and perennials when placed within a solar array. Our partnerships have allowed us to share real-time findings with our greater Colorado community and beyond.

Since our inception, over 4,000 people have toured Jack's Solar Garden and we've taught over 1,000 Colorado students on-site through our educational outreach program. Two pieces of Colorado agrivoltaics legislation have been inspired by our work at Jack's Solar Garden, thanks to our efforts in spreading the word about how improving land stewardship within solar arrays is possible. Because of this work, we now get a seat at the table to discuss renewable energy siting activities in our state and how we can do so for the most benefit to our community.

Seeing is believing, which is why we open our doors to our community to showcase agrivoltaics by bringing people into our space and letting them see for themselves what's possible. There isn't another site like ours in the country that provides such access.

How we choose to build our solar arrays today will impact our lands for generations to come. Instead of grading and spraying herbicides, we can build our solar arrays better by elevating panels, having good wire management and reducing degradation so that our communities can keep those lands functional and beneficial for our grandchildren and beyond.

Change starts with awareness and education - and that's what we do to spark interest in our neighbors, our community and our policymakers. The more awareness and novel ideas that are shared broadly, the more likely we'll see change. 

Help us continue to be an inspiration to our community and to our legislators as we head into 2024 with new ambitions to support more agrivoltaic sites in our state, enhance educational opportunities for our community and provide more on-site experiences. 

Your support gives us the opportunity to shine a light on what's positive in our community and how we can work together to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

From now until January 5th, your gift will be matched dollar for dollar up to $25,000 thanks to our generous donors Richard Rainaldi and Martha Records, and the Oreg Foundation.