Over the past few years, European farmers have been raising animals and growing crops on their farms while feeding electricity to their local power grid. Animals and crops share the field with solar panels which provide an additional source of revenue for the farmers.
Although it enjoys less sun than other parts of the world, Germany has gone as far to pass a law that guarantees a minimum price for each kilowatt of electricity. One farmer claims annual revenue over half a million dollars from the sale of its electricty. Now the fever is catching among farmers in France where one farmer plans to produce enough electricity from its photovoltaic installation to power as much as 4,000 residences. French Secretary of Environment and Energy, Jean-Louis Borloo was quoted as saying “France’s ambition is to play a leading role in the technological revolution which is about to happen in solar power”. To prove it, the French government has taken steps similar to Germany to guarantee a minimun tariff for the sale of electricity.
With the United States enjoying more sun than these countries and the price of electricity steadily rising along that of fossil fuel, I suspect it won’t be long before U.S. farmers start looking to the sun for additional revenue.
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