Possibilities of Symbiotic Solar

By Jade Taylor, fourth-year Environmental Management and Protection major

A global effort to restore ecological processes and mitigate climate change is underway, and a handful of Cal Poly faculty and students are among the millions of people striving to slow the environmental crisis by investigating solutions that could help both people and the environment thrive.

As part of those efforts, faculty and students in the Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences Department (NRES) are looking to see if the growing need for renewable energy solutions and land sustainability can go hand in hand. 

Assistant Professor Seeta Sistla and Amanda Gersoff, a graduate student in environmental sciences and management, are conducting research on solar panel development and the ecological implications that result from these unnatural structures. With a goal to inform future land use, they are studying how solar arrays set in fallowed agricultural lands and other human-modified landscapes affect plant and soil properties.

Amanda Gersoff collecting carbon flux
data in soils at Gold Tree Solar Farm.

The pair are also studying the potential to couple energy production with sheep grazing. This greater understanding will help rangeland managers, stakeholders and policymakers determine whether to devote resources into agrivoltaic development. Simply put, this study will inform future land users and decision-makers on the feasibility of dual-use solar farming that contributes to both renewable power generation and agricultural functions, such as sheep grazing. 

Working within San Luis Obispo County, Sistla and Gersoff are investigating microclimatic factors of solar developments by sampling soils and tracking vegetation progression. In doing so, they are collecting data that will contribute to the larger field of agrivoltaic development. “We are really wanting to see both the positive and negative externalities of solar array placement” to get a better understanding of how grazers will be impacted by this development, Sistla said.

Although accounting for the many variables of the project is a research challenge, this scientific approach will no doubt educate land users on how to maximize agroecological benefits at the nexus of solar energy and agricultural land uses. 

This research is ongoing and will likely continue into the coming years. Thus far, Sistla’s and Gersoff’s findings indicate that solar arrays placed in drier and warmer landscapes show potential for improving plant persistence during drought and potentially supporting spillover between carbon-free energy generation and agriculture either directly (by coupling energy production with grazing) or indirectly (by supporting pollinator populations). 

In pursuing and maintaining quality data collection, this research project has been incorporated into the NRES coursework. Numerous undergraduate students have participated in data collection, and Sistla’s soil ecology classes have analyzed samples from Cal Poly’s Gold Tree Solar Farm. Not only is this research project exploring essential connections between renewable energy and agricultural land conservation, but it’s also providing a workspace for student skill development and real-world research. “I have learned a lot about field sampling and lab techniques, which are skills that can be applied to other environmental jobs,” Gersoff said.

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Read more stories in the Summer 2023 Newsletter