Thank you and congratulations to our team in Houston County!

We are excited to share that Silicon Ranch’s Houston County Project, including a first of its kind 26,000-square-foot lambing barn, has been named Solar Ranch of the Year at the Solar Farm Summit’s 2024 North American Agrivoltaics Awards. This award recognizes outstanding achievements and excellence in solar grazing and celebrates projects that have gone beyond the co-location of livestock and solar power generation.

Our Houston Solar Project aims to redress the two biggest challenges to grazing sheep on solar farms in the Southeast: 1) not enough sheep and shepherds, due to a huge decline in the overall number of sheep in the United States over the last century, and 2) the susceptibility of American sheep to parasites found in the Southeast as a result of national flock genetics that adapted over time for drier climates. 

Through this project, we are selectively breeding sheep that are genetically suited to life in the Southeast while maximizing animal welfare. Additionally, our flock is the largest of its kind participating in the National Sheep Improvement Program (NSIP), which provides predictable, economically important genetic evaluation information to the US sheep industry, helping to grow and improve both our company-owned flock and the national flock. 

These efforts are providing new jobs in the burgeoning agrivoltaics sector for experienced and aspiring shepherds alike. What’s more, their work is crucial to the operation of the 68-megawatt solar farm where the barn is co-located, which generates enough cost-effective, reliable, and renewable energy to power the equivalent of 11,000 Georgia homes while also restoring a functioning grassland ecosystem. 

This recognition is a true testament to the dedication and hard work of our entire team, several of whom are Houston County natives and proud graduates of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC). Indeed, winning this award is a victory not just for Silicon Ranch but for our neighbors and the entire Houston County community.

Our Houston Solar Project is setting a new standard for what responsible solar farming can be. Silicon Ranch was among the earliest leaders in agrivoltaics—the dual use of land for solar and agricultural production—and our team continues to blaze the trail forward. By combining regenerative farming and renewable energy through our Regenerative Energy® platform, we’ve helped reimagine the solar industry overall. Loran Shallenberger, Jim Malooley, Jack Mason, Bill Johnson, and every single hardworking member of our in-house team of shepherds at our Houston, Snipesville, and DeSoto projects have helped us raise the bar for our industry, managing our flock through the rain, snow, and summer heat of South Georgia.

But being named Solar Ranch of the Year is a recognition of more than the significant strides Silicon Ranch has made in domestic renewable energy through agrivoltaics. The NAAA award further underscores the impact local farmers and ranchers can have on the quickly evolving renewable energy industry across the US. It also demonstrates the potential growth solar can offer the agriculture industry. The team at Silicon Ranch’s Houston Solar Project is made up of passionate and skilled folks from the surrounding community who bring their expertise and local knowledge to every aspect of our work. When agriculture is partnered with solar, we can create  job opportunities for talented people like these to do the work they love, close to home. 

None of this would be possible without Georgia’s world class workforce that continues to make the state the number one place to do business. Thanks to training hubs like ABAC in the area,  we have been able to bring a number of talented and insightful professionals onto our team, each with a deep understanding of and respect for Houston County’s unique agricultural landscape. ABAC students and graduates are the future of animal husbandry, and we’re proud to work with them.

The solar industry will be responsible for millions of acres of land across the US in the coming years, and Silicon Ranch is helping ensure that land is managed correctly, with respect and care. We’re pioneering cutting-edge technology as well as innovative, regenerative land management practices that restore ecosystem health, improve biodiversity, enhance wildlife habitat, and keep solar project land in agricultural production. Our Houston Solar Project is a model for how agrivoltaics can be integrated into local ecosystems to better leverage the opportunities beyond the megawatt that solar generation presents to communities. These efforts have not only made our solar farm more efficient but have contributed to the well-being of our local environment.

The Houston Solar Project and Lambing Barn is a direct result of Silicon Ranch’s long-term approach to solar and its commitment to square corners and ongoing improvement—in our role as a renewable energy producer, community member, and land steward, all under our model of long-term ownership. We are deeply honored to be recognized for our efforts but even more than that, we’re proud to be a part of the Houston County community. This award reflects what can be achieved when local talent and innovation come together—how local efforts can be felt across the country.