Sheep among solar panels: Silicon Ranch shows upcoming barn, unique land management strategy

ELKO, Ga. — if you continue south on Interstate 75 past Perry, you’ll see a billboard on the side of the highway and a barn under construction. This is part of an ongoing solar project from Silicon Ranch, known as the Houston Solar Project.

The 550-acre solar farm, according to Silicon Ranch leadership, provides 68 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 11,000 Georgia homes and businesses daily.

Thursday, Silicon Ranch unveiled their breeding barn to the media, an open-air facility that will provide the company with the ability to breed and take care of valuable members of the team: the 439 sheep who live at the solar farm. 

One section of the barn is devoted to birthing. Laboring ewes have a private pen to deliver and bond with their lambs. Silicon Ranch plans three waves of births to achieve a target flock of 1200 sheep.

At 60, 90 and 120 days after birth, the lambs go through a sorting and handling facility on site, where Silicon Ranch will record weights and check the lambs’ overall health.

The sheep have a crucial job at the solar farm: lawn maintenance. The sheep are fully allowed to graze on site and consume their fill of grass. Allowing the sheep to dine among the solar panels greatly reduces the need for mowing: from five times a year to two, according to Silicon Ranch. 

According to Director of Regenerative Energy Operations Loren Shallenberger, the lambing facility will be the company’s lifeblood as they merge agriculture and green energy at the Houston site.

Established in 2011, Silicon Ranch owns the properties where they choose to set up their solar farms. Chief Commercial Officer Matt Beasley explained a key company goal is to be good stewards of the land.

“What if we saw it another way? What if we saw the land as something that is a biological asset: Vegetation that if we manage it properly, we could actually sequester carbon in the soil and improve the soil’s health. We can promote more biodiversity, we can add some wildlife habitat. So thinking in a different lens in terms of our responsibilities, not only as the guys who own and operate and run the power plant, but as stewards of the land changed the way we think about our business,” Beasley said.

Silicon Ranch calls their method “agrivoltaics,” a blended approach they described as “the co-location of agriculture and photovoltaic electricity generation,” saying it supports the agriculture and green energy industries.

For farmers, having a flock to sell at the end of the day allows them to keep costs low for Silicon Ranch; Silicon Ranch has the benefit of increased biodiversity at their sites, improved soil and improved vegetation.

Jim Malooley, a senior manager of regenerative energy operations, agreed. With a background in shepherding, he also said the agrivoltaic model provides unique opportunities to support farmers, speaking from his experience working to improve Silicon Ranch’s flock of sheep.

“That’s something that really strikes a chord with me as somebody who’s an advocate for agriculture and for farmers and active in industry groups. This represents a once in a generation opportunity for folks who are in livestock production to gear their business towards targeted grazing in managing sites like the ones at Silicon Ranch. We see the same benefits under the solar panels that we see in in a pasture or farm setting,” Malooley said.

Silicon Ranch has over 160 solar projects in 17 states and Canada. To learn more about the company, visit siliconranch.com.

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