Our CORE Giving Circle Members visited Western Colorado Research Center – Grand Valley to learn about their Agrivoltaic Research.
The Western Colorado Research Center (WCRC) is part of the Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station, focusing on agriculture’s economic, environmental, and social aspects. They are getting ready to install an agrivoltaic (AV) system over a vineyard to study its impacts on fruit and energy production, water use, and economic viability in Western Colorado’s semi-arid conditions.
Agrivoltaics combines solar photovoltaic-based renewable energy generation with agricultural production. The technology shows promise to mitigate climate change impacts on crop and livestock productivity, generate significant clean, renewable energy, increase agricultural water efficiency, diversify and enhance income sources for farmers, and increase the productivity of agricultural land-use in the nation.
This project aims to educate the community about climate change and agricultural sustainability while providing renewable energy for the campus. It will also train a workforce in AV installation and monitoring. The findings will benefit regional growers and can be applied to similar areas in the Southwestern U.S.
The CORE Giving Circle supported this project in their grant selections last fall and enjoyed learning about how it is progressing.
Interested in learning more about CORE Giving Circle visit wc-cf.org/CORE
