How Joel Olsen uses sheep and the Renewable Energy for America Program to maintain his 28-megawatt solar farm in Montgomery County, North Carolina.

Randy Wheeless | October 29, 2024

| Clean Energy Generation, North Carolina, Solar

Joel Olsen has developed 25 solar facilities over the past 15 years – mainly in North Carolina, a leading solar state.

His proudest project, called the Montgomery Sheep Farm, is where he’s re-writing the book on what a solar farm can be. In fact, it’s a “true” farm – complete with anywhere from 400-600 sheep providing landscaping for a 28-megawatt (DC) solar facility covering 123 acres of the 200-acre farm. This project is also a research station for developing best practices for raising livestock on solar farms.

“A solar facility can be more than just acres of solar panels,” says Olsen. “We are combining solar power with the best elements of agriculture. Around the country, we are seeing more of it … Not enough of it – but more.”

The project has evolved over the years. The site in Montgomery County, N.C., had been a private hunting preserve. From 2013 to 2015, O2 emc (O2), where Olsen was CEO, developed the solar facility at the site, preserving all the farm buildings. The barns, farm lodge, and farm cabin began renovations in 2016, including energy efficiency upgrades made possible by a grant from the Renewable Energy for America Program (REAP).

Offered through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, REAP grants promote energy independence, rural economic growth, and environmental sustainability by making renewable energy systems and energy efficiency improvements more accessible and affordable for rural small businesses and agricultural producers. With the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, over $2 billion in REAP funding has been allocated through 2031, investing in more projects like the Olsen’s.

REAP funds allowed Olsen to transition the farm lodge to a renewable energy microgrid that helps power farming operations. Also in 2016, Olsen built a new 10,000-square-foot lambing barn, hired a farm manager, and began purchasing sheep to maintain the vegetation of the solar farm.

Olsen’s wife Tonje has long advocated for using sheep to manage landscaping at his solar farms versus the more common practices of spraying chemicals or relying only on traditional mowing.

She started Sun Raised Farms in 2012 to provide vegetative maintenance to solar farm owners by training and using local sheep farmers to graze sheep on their solar farms. They are steady grazers and don’t climb on the panels or damage the equipment.

“Just spraying chemicals to kill the grass seemed to be counter to what solar power is all about,” Olsen says. “Tonje urged us to design our solar facilities not only to accommodate sheep for grazing but also to have our solar facilities eventually become certified as Animal Welfare Approved farms.”

The Olsens’ vision was always to have solar power and agriculture work together at each site that O2 developed. Today, not only do the sheep help maintain the vegetation, but they also contribute to Sun-Raised Foods, which provides lamb salami and cuts to the market. Hint – the lamb salami has won the national “Good Food” Award and the “Our State Magazine Made in NC Food Award”.

In addition to buying lamb salami and cuts from Sun Raised Foods, customers can reserve a Great Pyrenees puppy or a trained adult dog to guard their own sheep, chickens and other livestock from predators like coyotes.

The Olsens also use the Montgomery Sheep Farm to host farm tours and farm-to-table dinner events throughout the year, introducing local lamb dishes and showcasing the clean-energy operation to the local community. Olsen is a tireless advocate of explaining how clean energy and agriculture can be combined.

“I’ve hosted schools, colleges, and community groups. I want to show how solar power and farming can work together,” he says. “Most people come away saying, ‘This makes a lot of sense.’”

Others are starting to take notice. The Montgomery Sheep Farm was recently named the Solar Ranch of the Year in the 2024 North American Agrivoltaics Awards. It also helped spur the formation of the American Solar Grazing Association, which has more than 800 members across 45 states.

The clean-energy aspect of the site is expanding, too. While the 28 MW solar facility sells power to the local utility, the farming operation is powered by a separate solar power microgrid. With the addition of Tesla batteries, the farmhouse, cabin, barns, and other buildings operate off-the-grid about 70 percent of the time.

Olsen is still planning and expanding. The remodeled cabin is now an Airbnb, and there could be similar projects in the future. He’d be happy if others copied his concept.

“I want people to see this model,” he says. “It combines clean energy, sustainability, agriculture, and agritourism. We can expand and explore clean energy in a whole different way.”

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