Research by Dwayne Breger Hits Home with Agrivoltaics Project at Hadley Farm
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Dwayne Breger, the director of the UMass Amherst Clean Energy Extension—housed within the College of Natural Sciences's Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment—is helping demonstrate how agrivoltaics (the practice of using the same land for both solar energy and agriculture) can allow farmers to produce food and renewable energy simultaneously.
Breger's research on agrivoltaic systems shows that solar panels can create a microclimate beneath the arrays. The Daily Hampshire Gazette recently highlighted a study Breger conducted:
"Dwayne Breger, director of Clean Energy Extension at UMass, completed a study that has examined how agrivoltaics affect the land. This study shows they can create a mini climate, changing the temperature nearby, and may impact farmer behavior with different crops and adjusted ways of harvesting."
— The Daily Hampshire Gazette
At a farm in UMass Amherst-adjacent Hadley, MA, for example, crops grown beneath solar panels have produced yields and quality comparable to nearby conventional fields, offering encouraging evidence that agriculture and solar energy can coexist. As interest in agrivoltaics grows across Western Massachusetts, Breger's work is helping farmers and policymakers understand how the technology can support both productive farmland and the region's transition to clean energy.
Learn more at The Daily Hampshire Gazette.