Mowing Under Solar Panels

Graze mowers are electric with boosted run times from solar panels.

Mowing under solar panels.

The problem was the labor required to mow the grass underneath the newly installed 7 acre solar farm in durham nc at the ge aviation facility. How do you keep grass under the panels from growing too high. System owners recognize that growing vegetation under and around pv systems must be minimized to protect their valuable investment. On a humid overcast day in central minnesota a dozen researchers crouch in the grass between rows of photovoltaic pv solar panels.

Softee automation and general electric have teamed up for a unique solution. Customers will save significantly on fuel and maintenance costs and will be able to operate effectively and quietly at night. 100 electric solar powered. Solar power plants provide many benefits but at least one perpetual challenge.

Even the sheep tried at one small site behaved unreliably. Hand held weed whackers are a labor intensive solution. There are several weed control methods used for pv ground mount systems in japan. Solar panel protection keeps all birds from getting under solar arrays protecting the roof and equipment.

Only their bright yellow hard hats are clearly visible above the tall nearly overgrown prarie grasses which are growing exactly as expected. With solar power farms popping up around the country comes the task of controlling vegetation growth under and around the panels. Gridwire tensioned steel cables suspended in various patterns to deter large aquatic birds. Bent over white square frames some of the researchers catalog the number and type of native plants growing on a square foot of land.

Mowing spraying herbicide grazing sheep goats and covering the area with weed control sheets for example. Ovocontrol a ready to use bait that controls the reproduction of treated birds. From the cronkite school of journalism amanda mason brings us one. Bigmow at ge underneath solar panels in their 7 acre solar field robotic battery powered mowers.