NSF R2I2: Midwest Agrivoltaics Incubator to Transform the Prosperity and Resilience to Extreme Weather of Midwest Farmers and Rural Communities

Rural Midwest communities face mounting challenges from increased extreme weather events that threaten both agricultural productivity and energy reliability. Rural areas are particularly vulnerable to extended power outages during extreme weather events, which disrupt critical services and impose significant economic and health impacts. Simultaneously, the expansion of solar energy on farmland creates tension between food and energy production, with limited community acceptance due to lack of trust and objective information about potential benefits and risks. This project addresses these interconnected challenges by developing community-driven solutions to overcome adoption barriers and enhance local energy resilience through solar microgrids that can operate independently during grid outages. The project will not only advance science by creating new interdisciplinary knowledge at the intersection of atmospheric science, agriculture and energy systems, but also benefit society by strengthening rural economic stability and creating a replicable model for sustainable rural development. The project’s goal is to establish the Midwest Agrivoltaics Incubator, a collaborative framework that brings together expertise in atmospheric science, agricultural extension, economics, and energy systems engineering to engage farmers, community leaders, solar developers, and energy utilities through regional focus groups. The research employs four integrated approaches: 1) comprehensive stakeholder engagement to map community perceptions, barriers, and opportunities for agrivoltaics adoption; 2) the development of comprehensive extreme weather datasets; 3) the creation of novel economic models that integrate weather dependencies to quantify resilience impacts of various agrivoltaics configurations across interconnected agricultural, labor, and energy markets; and 4) the evaluation of grid resilience enhancement through solar microgrids, including comprehensive valuation schemes and replicability analysis. The project’s potential contribution includes establishing the scientific and community foundation for widespread agrivoltaics adoption across the Midwest, providing decision-support tools for farmers and policymakers, and creating a dynamic roadmap for scaling weather resilient agricultural and energy systems regionally and nationally. The project will culminate with a statewide Agrivoltaics Summit that will disseminate findings and build partnerships for future implementation. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.