Offering Solar Grazing Services in Central Virginia
Why Solar Grazing?
Environmentally Conscious
Using sheep for vegetation management minimizes the need for traditional mowing, which requires fossil fuels and pollutes the air.
Cost Effective
Using sheep for vegetation management is usually more economical than mowing.
Protects Solar Panels
Mowers can accidentally throw rocks that damage solar panels. Sheep will keep the grass down without interacting negatively with the panels, wiring, or any of the other on-site infrastructure.
Sequesters Carbon
Studies have shown that implementing managed sheep grazing at utility scale solar sites increased available nutrients and total carbon storage up to 80%.
Solar power is becoming more prevalent as a source of renewable energy. If you're going green, why not go all the way? Choosing sheep to graze solar farms is a great way to continue a sustainable mission for energy production.
Sheep can be used for vegetation management on solar farms as a means to reduce the number of times traditional mowers are needed each year. According to the EPA, one gas lawn mower emits 89 pounds of CO2 and 34 pounds of other pollutants per year. According to a Swedish study, using a mower for one hour has the same carbon footprint as a 100-mile car trip. That's a lot of carbon! With sheep, we are not only keeping grass and other forage from shading solar panels and reducing their efficiency, but we are also minimizing the pollutants released during maintenance.
Sheep are the ideal animal to use in solar grazing because of their size and docility. Cows and goats would likely damage solar panels significantly, cows largely because of their size, and goats because of their curiosity and propensity to climb. Sheep, however, are by nature calm and reserved, eating a variety of grasses and forage while not being a threat to anyone who may be on site.
We can meet your solar grazing needs!
Virginia Solar Grazing is currently working on an 80MW site in central Virginia. We are available to meet with you about your solar project and the potential need for vegetation management. We believe that using sheep is the most logical means of maintaining solar arrays, and we want to help you do that!