AURORA, Ore. – Construction is underway on a $1.5 million project that will allow Oregon State University researchers to further optimize agrivoltaic systems that involve co-developing land for both solar photovoltaic power and agriculture.
The five-acre Solar Harvest project is located at Oregon State’s North Willamette Research and Extension Center in Aurora, Oregon, 20 miles south of Portland. It is the result of a partnership between Oregon State and the Oregon Clean Power Cooperative, which developed the solar array, and whose members financed construction of the solar array.
Additional financing for construction came from a grant from Portland General Electric’s Renewable Development Fund, and an investment by the Roundhouse Foundation.
“There has been a huge increase in interest in agrivoltaics just in the past few years,” said Chad Higgins, an associate…