Purdue and partners launch initiative for rural energy stability
Jane Imbody, Reporter assisted by AI. More details at the bottom of the page.
Mammoth Solar has partnered with Purdue University and other organizations on a new initiative to help rural Midwest communities address extreme weather challenges and rising energy demands.
The Midwest Agrivoltaics for Resilient Communities initiative is part of the National Science Foundation's Regional Resilience Innovation Incubator program, according to a community announcement. MARC aims to combine solar energy and agriculture in a dual-use model to boost food production and energy reliability.
This Phase 1 award opens the door to a $15 million Phase 2 grant for expanded research and implementation.
Project to include demonstration zone in Indiana
Mammoth Solar will dedicate a demonstration zone within its project footprint in Pulaski and Starke counties for research and community impact activities. The area will host crop trials, robotics testing and advanced monitoring systems to evaluate how agrivoltaics can optimize land use and improve agricultural performance.
"Mammoth Solar brings practical expertise in large-scale solar development and dual-use practices,” Ed Baptista, Doral Renewables vice president of development and agrivoltaics, said in the announcement. “By dedicating space for crop trials and harnessing Purdue and Nextpower’s expertise, we aim to show that agrivoltaics can provide reliable power, protect agricultural productivity, and strengthen rural economies against climate and market disruptions.”
To enhance the platform’s technological capabilities, Mammoth Solar is also collaborating with Nextpower, formerly Nextracker. Nextpower will contribute its NX Horizon solar tracker technology and proprietary planning software to support agricultural monitoring, performance modeling and resilience under challenging weather conditions.
“Agrivoltaics is already well established in other markets like Europe, and this initiative is an important opportunity to advance dual-use solar in the U.S.,” said Jake Morin, Nextpower chief product officer. “At Nextpower, our approach to resilience is grounded in research and field experience across more than 150 gigawatts of systems operating in diverse terrain and extreme weather conditions. We’re proud to partner with Purdue University and Doral on research that applies that experience to agrivoltaics, helping landowners and rural communities better understand how solar infrastructure and agriculture can work together to enhance productivity and resilience.”
Initiative aims to address critical rural issues
The project addresses critical concerns for farmers and rural communities, including power outages caused by storms, economic losses from crop damage and uncertainty about the performance of agrivoltaic systems under severe weather conditions. By integrating solar infrastructure with farmland, agrivoltaics offers a dual-use approach that strengthens both energy and agricultural resilience, while offering farmers the opportunity to maximize land use and diversify revenue streams.
“When hail ruins a harvest, heat strains livestock, or wind storms cut electricity, farmers and their communities are hit hard,” Dan Chavas, principal investigator at Purdue University, said in the announcement. “Our goal is to understand how agrivoltaics can make our nation’s rural communities more resilient and prosperous.”
This story was created by Jane Imbody, jimbody@usatodayco.com, with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more at cm.usatoday.com/ethical-conduct/.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Purdue and Mammoth Solar launch agrivoltaics project
