The company deploys the first commercial tracking system with a 13-ft. free space hardened against wind and beef.
Oregon-based Rute SunTracker has commissioned its first commercial solar photovoltaic project designed for cattle ranches. The 120 kW solar panel is deployed on an Angus ranch in Jackson County Oregon and is connected to the Pacific Power grid. The project is another example of how agrivoltaic energy benefits both farmers and the solar energy sector.
Agrivoltaics, the practice of integrating PV arrays with pollination, agriculture and pasture, is becoming a popular method for opening up suitable locations for solar energy. The host for most of these projects is on land allocated to pollinators or sheep, which are typically peaceful grazers. Having livestock in and between the stables is more challenging.
Rute SunTracker’s system mounts PV panels on a cable trellis, poles and trusses that lift them to a height of 4 meters. The pipework used in the pile supports is surplus from fracking work and the foundations are made from recycled wind blades. The company provides the support structure, which includes third-party tracking components.
Rute President Doug Krause told it pv magazine USA that the supporting structure is high and safe enough to allow the cattle to graze unhindered and to support their weight if they rub against the posts. In addition, the height of the PV panels creates a shadow effect on the ground, which benefits both the animals and the grass they feed on. He points out that the United States has 120 million hectares of livestock pasture, much of which is under increasing heat and water stress.
“Cooler soil produces more and better grass varieties and retains water, so more beef per acre,” Krause said. “That cooler soil and 13 feet of elevation in turn cools the panels, so more electricity.”
Naturally, the increase comes at the expense of greater wind loads on the supports. Rute worked with scientists at the National Laboratory of the Rockies (formerly NREL) to perform computational fluid dynamics analyzes on his designs to evaluate wind resistance under different conditions.
One result of this analysis is that the company’s first vertical mounting systems are now in a single-axis S-oriented configuration. The trackers feature automatic hail and wind storage modes.
Rute SunTracker is a division of Rute Foundation Systems, which provides anchoring support for wind turbine towers. The company says it is a pioneer in the use of modular, precast box foundations to reduce the amount of cement used in traditional cast-in-place concrete foundations. In 2018, it installed its first foundation using wind farm technology.
Rute SunTracker achieved its first commercial deployment after a number of pilot projects. Going forward, Krause said the company plans to commercially produce its SunTracker systems in standard 1.3 MW (DC) blocks covering six hectares. So if a project needs 130 MW, the EPC would put together 100 field kits.
“We still have a few years to go before we can achieve large scale,” Krause said, given the company’s existing development program. “Over the next year, we will be fielding 1-acre, 120- to 150-kW projects on ranches across the U.S. to showcase the product to the ranching and IPP community.”
Although Krause describes Pacific Power as very accommodating on total net metering and interconnection for its Oregon ranch project, the company has struggled as other locations get commercial demonstrations underway. Interconnection queues and the looming deadline imposed on solar projects by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act complicate matters.
“That’s why we want to build behind-the-meter regional projects to power ranch irrigation, like rotary pump power,” he said. “That will allow us to get started on several projects before next July’s deadline and get the technology into many ranch regions so the IPPs can see the systems in action. We have a development affiliate LLC to develop and implement these demonstration projects.”
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