This summer, a solar field in Alberta will not only generate about 40 megawatts of electricity every sunny day, but will also produce eggs, honey, meat and wool.
There are 110,000 solar panels in the 130 hectares of land, in addition to approximately 400 sheep, 40 pigs and 100 chickens. The bees arrive soon.
The Power Capital Project, based in Edmonton and located near the city of Strathmore, is beginning to resemble a farm of hobbies. But for those involved, it is an important opportunity to test new agricultural technologies and techniques.
As the demand for electricity grows every year, this site provides a look at the future of solar industry in Canada.
The chickens arrived this week and began placing eggs inside their new home, a mobile chicken coop that moves slowly between the long rows of panel.
The structure is a self -propelled grass designed by UKKö Robotics, a Manitoba -based startup. The concept is to house animals in a building, while providing fresh grass to graze and extend the manure evenly on earth. Several times a day, COOP slowly moves a small distance, usually half a meter at the same time.
The company has installed 50 of Roaming structures worldwide, but this is the first time it will operate in a solar site.
“If it works, I think there are some excellent applications throughout North America because this is underutilized agricultural land,” said Daniel Badiou, co -founder and CEO of Ukkö Robotics.
SOLAR INDUSTRY VERSUS AGRICULTURE
As the solar industry has expanded, especially in Alberta, rural land owners have raised concerns about the impact on farmland.
These criticisms are partly why Alberta and Ontario governments have introduced new rules that restrict the development of solar panels in main agricultural lands and require solar operators to include some type of agriculture, depending on the quality of the land.
But sheep breeder Janna Grier said she believes that solar agriculture and regular agriculture can go hand in hand. She is the co -founder of Solar Sheep, and this is the fourth summer in which she will handle vegetation in this solar field.
“Our vision is essentially agriculture under each panel,” said Grier, who began using sheep and has expanded to try other animals.
“We want to try the concept that we can raise more proteins and more local foods by acre,” he said.
“There is a lot of solar development throughout the province, so we are only trying to maintain that land in agriculture. But we are also trying to keep it and leave it in a better place than when we start.”
‘Rethink how beekeeping’
The bees will also be part of the new technologies test, since they will be housed in a climate building to the predator -proof that is similar in size to a garden shed. The mobile interior apiary is designed and built by Bee Cube, a Calgary startup.
Instead of hosting a hive in a box, the bees building can house up to 20 hives. Until now, seven of the structures have been built, including that of the solar field.
Each building has sensors to monitor the temperature, humidity, weight and sound of bees.
“All these data go to a database so that the beekeepers know what is happening inside their hives at a given time,” said Herman Van Reekum, founder and CEO of Bee Cube.
The next step will be to integrate artificial intelligence to provide early warnings and management tips. The aim of improving the health of bees, while saving time for beekeepers.
In the solar field, bees will not only produce honey; They will help pollinate the various types of flowers with flowers.
“It will be a great learning experience,” said Van Reekum. “The bees are dying at incredible rates, so we are trying to do something about this type of rethinking how beekeeping.”
The main objective of the Strathmore solar field, located about 40 kilometers east of Calgary, is to generate electricity, but agricultural activities are important, said Wade Heuscher, solar manager for capital energy, the energy generator owner of the project.
The company is starting a 10 -year floor test program to better understand how cattle, rotational grazing and vegetation management are affecting soil conditions.
“One of the common problems is that we have taken this land and we have reached a solar farm, and now it is not usable for anything else. We are demonstrating that there is a difference here,” said Heuscher.
“This is the form of the future. I think this is an association that all solar suppliers should be looking to do.”
Janna Grier by Solar Sheep and Wade Heuscher of Capital Power explain why animals are used at the Strathmore solar site in Alberta.
