InSPIRE
InSPIRE
Innovative Solar Practices Integrated with Rural Economies and Ecosystems
The InSPIRE project explores the environmental compatibility and mutual benefits of solar development with agriculture and native landscapes.
Agrivoltaics
is the pairing of solar and agriculture for shared benefits. The InSPIRE project unites field research across the United States with advanced modeling and analysis capabilities to provide foundational and actionable data on agrivoltaics and low-impact solar development, while also highlighting region-specific benefits and tradeoffs to ecosystems, grazing habitat, and crop production.Grazing
Sheep, cows, or other grazing animals foraging underneath and/or in between solar panels.
Crop Production
Agricultural production under or in between rows of solar panels.
Habitat
Pollinator habitat, native grasses and vegetation, and naturalized beneficial vegetation.
Greenhouse
Solar technologies placed on top of or integrated with greenhouses.
InSPIRE tools
enable exploration of agrivoltaic research, sites and cost-benefits.InSPIRE research
helps facilitate mutual benefits of solar projects with agricultural and conservation land by convening multi-sector and multi-disciplinary teams, providing foundational data and services to the public, and conducting novel fieldwork and analytical research on agrivoltaics. InSPIRE’s work supports the replication and scaling-up of agrivoltaics research and deployment.Recent press
about the InSPIRE team, learn about our current research efforts.Contact
Jordan Macknick, Principal Investigator
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
| (303) 275-3828
Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office and managed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory