Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Agrivoltaics topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Oregon senators hold informational hearing on agrivoltaics as House bill would create statewide task force
Summary
Legislators heard researchers, farmers and livestock specialists about agrivoltaics — using the same land for solar and farming — and were told House Bill 2063 would form an 18‑month task force to study siting, design and protections for agricultural land.
An informational hearing on agrivoltaics drew testimony April 28 to the Senate Energy and Environment Committee as lawmakers considered how to allow solar installations that share land with farming without taking good farmland out of production.
The hearing focused on House Bill 2063, introduced in the House as a committee bill, which would create a Task Force on Agrivoltaics supported by the Department of Land Conservation and Development and a broad set of stakeholders to study land‑use rules, potential benefits and impacts, and recommended guardrails. The bill, sponsors said, calls for the task force to meet over 18 months and report to the Legislature before the 2027 session.
Former state Senator Michael Dembrow, who described the bill’s genesis, told the committee that agrivoltaics is “the simultaneous use of land for both agriculture and solar energy production.” He said the task force would examine existing land‑use regulations, the benefits and limits of agrivoltaics for smaller family farms, impacts to the agricultural economy, and mechanisms to ensure farming remains the primary land use.
“New research by Dr. Higgins and others has suggested that if done right and in the right locations, solar power sited on farmland can be a beneficial, symbiotic use of land for both,” Dembrow said, describing a demonstration at Oregon State University’s North Willamette Agricultural Research Station and testimony from Linn County farmer John Langdon.
Chad Higgins, associate professor at Oregon State University, gave technical testimony and used a proposed federal definition to frame his remarks: "a system under which energy production and agricultural production, including crop or animal production, occurs in an integrated manner on the same piece of land through the duration of the project." Higgins said agrivoltaics can increase farm resilience by harvesting excess light and converting it to energy while also, in many cases, improving productivity, nutrient content and water savings. He cautioned agrivoltaics are not suitable everywhere and urged statutory clarity so developers and farmers can know when the practice is an approved agricultural use.
John Langdon, a fourth‑generation Linn County farmer, described long interest from developers in property near a substation and offered a farmer’s hypothetical comparison: "let's say you make an average net profit of $50 per acre; if they offer $500 to lease your land per acre to put in panels, I look at that as innovation dollars.” He said lease payments could fund new practices and make farms financially viable for the next generation.
Sarkhanatesh, a faculty member in the Rangeland and Livestock Sciences area at Oregon State, summarized sheep‑grazing and forage trials. He said fixed‑tilt panels reduced forage production by about 30 percent in some trials but that optimized panel designs at the research station produced forage comparable to open areas; he added that lamb growth was not negatively affected and that animals often used panel shade for resting and heat relief.
Testimony addressed concerns raised by landowners and community members about potential bad‑faith projects and long‑term conversion of farmland to industrial solar. Higgins and others described policy options such as bonds, continuing‑farming contingencies and design constraints to ensure agricultural activity continues as a condition of siting.
Committee members asked whether Oregon should compile best practices from other states before finalizing the task force’s work. Higgins noted Massachusetts and New Jersey have enacted agrivoltaic statutes with design constraints and premium payments; he said Oregon lacks clarity and that roughly 1,500 of 100,000 acres of proposed agrivoltaics nationally were in Oregon because developers are uncertain about legal status here.
The informational hearing closed after more than two hours of testimony, and committee members were directed to follow the proposed task force’s work and the pending House bill.
The hearing transcript shows the agrivoltaics discussion began when the chair opened the informational session and ended when the chair closed it and moved to other agenda items.
