Raising sheep under solar panels

Solar panels and agriculture

Since 2015, the solar farm at Saint-Amadou, in the Occitanie region of France, has been home to more than a hundred ewes.

Nine years on, farmers Élodie and Nicolaï take stock of the past few years and look back at the constraints and benefits of agrivoltaics.

The farm has a total output of 8.52 MWp and covers an area of 23.8 hectares. Is it possible to combine farming and electricity generation?

Save space, improve grass quality, improve animal welfare, protect against the vagaries of the weather (drought, storms, etc.). Discover the advantages of a photovoltaic installation located on the same plot of land as agricultural production.

“The solar panels have enabled us to increase the number of ewes, because more grass is produced with the solar panels. When it comes to rearing ewes, we don’t lose any surface area, we use it 100%”.

There is a difference in management: “there are technicians who come regularly, but there are no constraints as such”.

As far as the health of the animals is concerned, the farmers have observed no drop in the number of births, and no increase in ewe illnesses.

Read their full testimonials to find out more about the benefits of this farming system.