Sheep Help to Manage Vegetation at MGE's Tyto Solar
"Solar grazing" keeps vegetation from shading the panels.
There's more than clean energy at MGE's Tyto Solar in Fitchburg. The 6-megawatt solar facility is MGE's first solar project to use sheep to help control ground cover. About 70 sheep from nearby Wiscovery Farm arrived in July to help control ground cover during the growing season, which typically lasts through October.
The sheep maintain the grass and brush in a sustainable way. This practice is an example of agrivoltaics or dual-use solar. The land is used for solar generation and agricultural production, such as crop or livestock production or the creation of pollinator habitat.
"Solar grazing" by the sheep keeps the grass and brush from shading the site's more than 13,000 solar panels. This avoids drops in panel efficiency due to vegetation shading the panels and avoids the use of fossil fuel for mowing.
Wiscovery Farm
Wiscovery Farm is a certified organic farm owned and operated by Grace and Beau Stafford who provide the flock.
After wintering at nearby Wiscovery Farm, the flock of registered Katahdin sheep will return to the Tyto Solar site in spring for a second season of solar grazing.
Meet the flock and hear more about MGE's use of agrivoltaics in the latest Green View video from MGE. Watch and subscribe to Green View from MGE for more videos about clean energy and new technologies!
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published: Oct-29-2024