Rutgers’ Agrivoltaics Wins Solar Farm Award

The North American Agrivoltaics Awards program announced recently that Rutgers’ work in agrivoltaics has won its “Solar Farm of 2025” award. For the past several years, a project at Rutgers University, the Rutgers Agrivoltaics Program (RAP), has been focused on “agrivoltaics,” also known as “dual-use” solar, and is showing that a farm’s energy needs and expenses can be lowered through the use of solar panels in fields, while at the same time allowing the sun to nurture crops planted beneath those panels. 

“New Jersey farmers have for the past several decades been actively integrating renewable energy into their operations as a way of reducing energy expenses, establishing additional income streams by selling solar-generated electricity back into the grid, and lowering their farms’ impact on climate change,” said NJ Secretary of Agriculture Edward D. Wengryn. “The work by Rutgers on agrivoltaics will benefit farms looking to add an income stream from energy production, while ensuring agriculture production remains the primary use of the farm.” 

According to an announcement on the NAAA website, Rutgers’ program for its “three-site research network advancing dual-use policy and practice across New Jersey,” led to the award, adding that Rutgers is “leading the way” in demonstrating how agrivoltaics can help farmers stay resilient, productive, and profitable. 

“Our mission,” said RAP Team Lead Dave Specca, “is to take a ‘Farmers First’ approach and assess the viability of agrivoltaics in New Jersey, while better understanding the challenges and opportunities that come with combining agricultural production and solar power generation on the same plot of land.”

The Rutgers work has been the subject of multiple support resolutions by the delegates to the State’s Annual Agricultural Convention, stating their receptiveness to the concepts in the university’s program, especially the ag-centric approach. 

The delegates stated that they, “strongly urge those farmers pursuing ‘dual-use’ solar installations to be mindful that the farming aspects of those energy-producing projects are most important to maintaining the agricultural character of their operations, and we urge that preserved farms also be able to employ such ‘dual-use’ applications, including farms located in the Highlands and Pinelands preservation areas.”