Burkholtz, Texas — In rural Texas farmland beneath hundreds of rows of solar panels, a flock of stocky sheep wander through the pasture, accidentally bumping into each other as they focus on one thing: chewing grass.
With large-scale solar farms popping up across the United States and on the Texas plains, the burgeoning solar industry has found an unexpected mascot: a sheep. In Milam County, outside Austin, SB Energy operates the fifth-largest solar project in the country, spanning 1,618 hectares (4,000 acres) and capable of generating 900 megawatts of power.
How do you maintain that much lawn? With the help of about 3,000 sheep, fitter than lawnmowers, they get into tiny crevices and nibble away rain or light.
The surge in sheep on solar farms is part of a wider trend of solar grazing, which has exploded alongside the solar industry.
Agrivoltaics, a method of using land for solar energy production and agriculture, is on the rise with more than 60 solar grazing projects in the United States, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The American Solar Grazing Association says 27 states participate in the practice.
“The industry tends to rely on gas-powered lawnmowers, which defeats the purpose of renewable energy,” said James Hawkins, asset manager at SB Energy.
Putting animals to work on solar farms would help the wool market, which has suffered in recent years. Texas’ sheep inventory was 655,000 in January 2024, down 4% from the previous year, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Because the solar power plant uses flat, sunny land ideal for livestock grazing, the plant has been used in collaboration with, rather than against, farmers.
Shepherd JR Howard happened to find himself in the middle of Texas’ burgeoning clean energy transition. In 2021, he and his family signed a contract with a solar farm with hundreds of thousands of solar modules and began using his sheep to graze.
What was once a small business has transformed into a large-scale operation with over 8,000 sheep and 26 staff.
“The growth itself was crazy to us,” said Howard, who named his company Texas Solar Sheep. “It’s been a really good thing for me and my family.”
Some agricultural experts say Howard’s success reflects how beneficial solar farms have been to some ranchers.
Reid Redden, a sheep farmer and solar plant manager in San Angelo, Texas, said a successful sheep operation requires farmland, which is becoming increasingly scarce.
“Solar grazing is probably the biggest opportunity the U.S. sheep industry has had in generations,” Redden said.
The response to solar grazing has been overwhelmingly positive in rural communities near the South Texas solar farm where Redden raises sheep for use, he said.
“I think it can temper some of the shock and awe that comes when a large solar farm comes in,” Redden said.
Agricultural development itself is not new. Solar power plants are land-intensive and require a lot of space that could be used for food production. Agrivoltaics compensates by allowing both to coexist, whether growing food or caring for livestock.
Nuria Gomez-Casanovas, an assistant professor of regenerative systems ecology at the University of Texas A, said there is still much unknown about the full effects of solar grazing.&M University.
Gomez-Casanovas suspects that solar grazing could improve sheep productivity because the panels provide shade and could be cost-effective, but there isn’t enough research to know the long-term environmental impacts, such as how suitable the soil is for future agriculture. Than mowing the lawn.
“We have more questions than answers,” Gomez-Casanovas said. “There are studies showing that land productivity is not as high as solar alone or agriculture alone, so it depends.”
As one of the largest solar operators in Texas, Howard has more customers than he can handle. He expects to add about 20 more employees by the end of the year, nearly doubling his current staff. The quantity is already sufficient.
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Lathan is a member of the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
