Frequently Asked Questions
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Working with Hyperion
Hyperion’s commitment to farmers and ranchers is unique. We have a long history of designing and installing elevated solar projects that prioritize farm production, focusing on farm viability, soil health, water management, and crop diversification throughout the project's life.
Rather than removing farmland from production or restricting farming opportunities to a narrow niche, our elevated solar design and spacing allow for various livestock, crops, and land management approaches.
We create agrivoltaic projects that work with various farm equipment and provide site enhancements and improvements to improve farm viability.
In addition to the lease rate, you should ensure that your lease allows you to access the site, continue agricultural operations within the array, have the flexibility to change the agricultural operations within the array, irrigate, let the land go fallow for a short period if needed, receive indemnification from the solar owner in the event of damage to the field, have the ability to terminate the lease, etc. The lease should also clarify farm improvements (roads, water access/wells, tilling, internal fencing, and onsite power, etc.) and maintenance costs.
Hyperion puts farmers first and is committed to writing farmer-friendly leases. We also recommend that you consult a legal expert whenever negotiating a lease.
Hyperion is committed to ensuring that agriculture is viable within the solar array. We are mission-driven and want to see this project work for you as much as you do.
We ensure that project objectives and expectations are clearly communicated verbally and in writing. We also ensure that we have indemnifications and other protective clauses in contracts that require Hyperion to follow through on our promises and protect you. As part of our lease agreements, we clarify that any contracts with 3rd parties are written to have your best interest in mind.
Yes. Hyperion is open to working nonprofit organizations, municipalities, farmers, and for-profit landowners who own farmland. Please reach out via our Contact Us to start a conversation.
Please use our Contact Us page to get in touch with us. We’d love to hear about your operation and see if agrivoltaics is a good fit.
Soil Health
Most soil types, compositions, and qualities can work within agrivoltaics. That said, higher quality agriculture soils will allow you to grow a greater diversity of products. Agricultural products should be selected to be optimized for the site’s specific soil and the agrivoltaic microclimate’s impact.
Depending on your production goals, agrivoltaics can work with high-quality or marginal soils. When combined with the right management practices, agrivoltaics may improve soil quality.
With the right management practices and careful selection of agricultural products, agrivoltaics can improve soil fertility. The partial shading from agrivoltaics can also help maintain an insulative layer of snow or reduce heat stress during the growing season.
The partial shading from Hyperion's elevated solar design reduces temperatures within the solar array, reducing evaporation and improving soil moisture retention.
The best way to avoid soil erosion is to keep the soil covered with vegetation (pasture, hay, cover crops, etc.).
Hyperion will communicate regularly with the farmer/rancher so that solar maintenance does not interfere with their ability to keep the soil covered to mitigate erosion.
While a higher concentration of water comes off the drip edges of the solar panels, this amount is unlikely to cause erosion due to the panels' variable tilt (e.g., the panels are not in a fixed position, so rainwater isn’t concentrated in one place over long periods of time). However, if any erosion is observed on the site, Hyperion will work with you to identify and implement a solution.
The solar array may reduce the likelihood of wind erosion, particularly near the project's interior, since the solar panels can potentially slow wind speeds.
No, research has shown that solar panels do not leach contaminants. Additionally, solar panels are rarely cleaned, as rain, snow, and wind sufficiently keep them free of debris.
However, if cleaning is needed, nontoxic cleaner would be used.
While solar panels shed precipitation to the ground directly under the edges of the solar panels, the variable tilt design Hyperion uses reduces the impact and does not cause the leaching of soil nutrients.
Farm Viability Considerations
Yes. Hyperion designs the solar array specifically so that the farm plan can be adapted and viable within the solar array.
We recognize that plans change and/or crop rotations may make sense, so we do our best to ensure that the solar array is built to handle all “what ifs” and desired agricultural products. Backup planning is a core focus of our conversations with farmers/ranchers for this very reason.
Agrivoltaics may not be suitable for your operation if you have large contracts with strict quotas and delivery windows, plan to grow crops that don't thrive in partial shade or more humid conditions, use overhead spraying or center pivot irrigation, have a high presence of wetlands, provide habitat for sensitive or endangered species, or if your site is culturally sensitive, heavily wooded, shaded, or has steep or north-facing slopes.
Additionally, agrivoltaics usually doesn’t make sense financially if the site isn’t located near a suitable point of interconnection, has an undefined or overly prescriptive permitting process, is unlikely to obtain contracts to sell electricity, or is subject to building codes that would not enable compatibility with the agricultural operation.
No. Hyperion strongly believes that farmers and ranchers should be able to adapt their farm plans. Our design principles ensure that the solar array is built for adaptability and compatibility with various agricultural activities.
As part of the farm plan, you can let your land fallow for a couple of years. Hyperion believes farmers and ranchers should be able to adapt, including the right to fallow the land if it makes sense. Our only request is that the vegetation be maintained if it threatens to shade the solar panels.
This answer depends on the local climate, soil type, soil fertility, soil composition, water access, the goals of the operation, etc. High-quality soils usually provide you with more options than marginal farm soils.
Research has documented that many crops, grasses and pasturelands, and animals grow successfully within a solar array like Hyperion’s. Crops that do well are leafy greens, shade and/or partial-shade-tolerant crops, and/or crops that like slightly more humid conditions than the open land environment. Many plants grow as well or better in an elevated solar design due to increasingly erratic weather, including “flash droughts” or early frosts.
In short, agrivoltaics is very contextual. Hyperion works with the landowner to develop projects alongside local agricultural experts, extension offices, researchers, etc.
Please refer to the AgriSolar Clearinghouse website for additional information on research and plant and crop compatibility.
It may, depending on your property characteristics, zoning requirements, and what you want to do. Elevated solar over haylands or pastures takes very little land out of production, even under solar panels.
For vegetable crops, the area directly under the solar panels is the most difficult to farm due to its constrained space, lack of precipitation, and highest shade concentration. This area may need to be repurposed for different shade-tolerant crops that can succeed given water and equipment access constraints.
We do our best to explore ways to design our solar projects so that you can keep this area in production. The area directly under the panels is usually easier to keep in production for “micro” grazing (rotational grazing for chickens, for example), shade-tolerant perennial crops, or pollinator habitat applications.
Yes. Hyperion can design the solar array to accommodate a boom sprayer or other spraying method.
However, aerial spraying applications would not be compatible with agrivoltaics. The solar infrastructure would likely prevent an even application of herbicides across the field as the herbicides could accumulate on the solar panels. These herbicides would eventually run off the solar panels and result in high concentrations below the drip edge, while the area under the solar panels would not have received treatment. Herbicides on solar panels could also harm electrical production.
Financial FAQs
This depends on whether you own or lease the project and the circumstances in the local area.
If you lease from Hyperion, we pay competitive lease rates. If you decide to own your array, it will depend on the payment for electricity generated, the project's total cost, operating expenses, financing terms, applicable tax credits, and other tax attributes.
We encourage you to connect with us through our Contact Us page so we can discuss this and better approximate your income expectations.
Hyperion tries to reduce production risk for farmers. This is mitigated by consulting local agricultural experts, conducting thorough and educated planning in advance, and maintaining open communication.
Research (please refer to the AgriClearinghouse website) confirms that grasses, livestock, and many vegetables and perennial crops grow very well in designs like Hyperion’s. The shade from the solar panels can help reduce heat stress on both plants and animals. That said, depending on what you are planning on growing, there could be a reduction in production, which we can talk about. When combined with onsite production, the lease payments, or income generation if you own the array, usually provide a net income gain.
Agrivoltaics will most likely reduce financial risk since it provides an additional income stream on the same piece of land. Whether leasing or owning the solar project, electricity-related cash flows are sizeable, predictable, and year-round. Hyperion believes in agrivoltaics largely because of the financial stability that it can provide for farmers and ranchers.
Potentially. Hyperion is happy to assist the farmer/rancher in pursuing the federal “REAP” grants.
The program provides guaranteed loan financing and grant funding to agricultural producers and rural small businesses for renewable energy systems or to make energy efficiency improvements. Agricultural producers may also apply for new energy-efficient equipment and new system loans for agricultural production and processing.
For more information about if you qualify, the application process, and financial benefits please refer to the Rural Energy for America Program Renewable Energy Systems & Energy Efficiency Improvement Guaranteed Loans & Grants website.
Solar tax credits are only available to the owner of a solar project. You may qualify if you decide to own the array rather than sign a lease.
A solar project can qualify for either Section 45 (a.k.a. “PTC”) or Section 48 (a.k.a. “ITC”) tax credits. The PTC is calculated based on the project's actual electrical production in its first ten years, and the ITC is based on the project's capital cost.
Solar Maintenance
No. Rain, snow, and wind generally do a good job of keeping the solar panels clear of dust and debris.
The increased generation from cleaning solar panels rarely offsets the cost of cleaning them. Cleaning solar panels usually only makes economic sense in specific circumstances. However, should cleaning be needed, non-toxic cleaners are used.
Decommissioning
The landowner has a few options at the end of the solar project’s useful life. They can:
- Have the project decommissioned
- Extend the lease for the short term and use existing equipment
- Extend the lease for the long term and repower the site with new equipment
- Sign a lease with a different solar developer interested in repowering the site
If the landowner is ready to remove the solar project, decommissioning is the best option. If the landowner wants to continue the project, the second and third decisions above can be good options, but these require mutual agreement from the solar owner. Without the solar owner’s mutual agreement, the landowner can elect to decommission the project or explore working with other solar developers to sign a new lease and repower the site.
All considered, the landowner will never be stuck with an abandoned project. Hyperion always considers decommissioning plans during project development. Hyperion believes that it is important to think through the end of life before the project is built to preserve the soil quality all the way through removal.
Hyperion also ensures that the solar owner is contractually obligated to establish a decommissioning reserve backed by a financial guarantee and indemnification.
Decommissioning generally entails a crew coming to the site to deconstruct the solar array. This includes removing the solar panels, posts, racking, inverters, power stations, and other electrical equipment. Underground electrical lines are sometimes not excavated, but they can be at the landowner’s request. Hyperion will discuss that decision with the landowner to ensure the best balance of electrical equipment removal and soil preservation is attained.
This process is not necessarily one size fits all and can be adapted to the landowner's specific needs.
The solar owner is responsible for decommissioning. That said, Hyperion ensures that decommissioning plans are robust and backed by a financial guarantee and indemnification to incentivize the solar owner to do a good job.
Yes, agriculture can continue after decommissioning. We do our best to ensure that the decommissioning plan is written in a way that minimizes soil compaction and other soil disturbances that could potentially arise during decommissioning.
The solar owner must come up with the money to decommission the solar site. If they cannot pay for this, then the backer of the financial guarantee will supply the money so that decommissioning is not delayed. Indemnification is intended to compensate the landowner if delays or damages occur.
“Elevated solar can provide critical income for farmers during weather extremes.”
Linda Garrett
New York Regional Director, American Farmland Trust