Why oil majors Shell and BP are combining solar energy and agricultural production

Published

1 year ago

November 14, 2023

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At Elm Branch Solar Farm, about an hour south of Dallas, Texas, a flock of sheep grazes among a vast field of solar panels. The flock’s shepherd, Amanda Stoffels, watches over it as the sheep munch on the grass and nap in the shade provided by the panels.

Stoffels owns this land, but leases it to Lightsource BP, a major solar energy developer that’s 50% owned by British oil major BP. She earns a steady monthly income from the lease payments as well as through her grazing contract with Lightsource, which pays her to graze her sheep around the panels, thereby keeping vegetation in check.

“It’s a new, modern approach to agriculture,” Stoffels says. Her contracts with Lightsource allowed her to quit her 9 to 5 job to become a full-time shepherd.

An emerging industry called agrivoltaics combines solar energy production with agricultural activities such as sheep grazing, beekeeping and crop growing. This land management strategy could help alleviate the tension between farmers and solar developers, groups that often have competing land-use interests.

“Even though the United States is a very large country with a lot of available land, every single square inch of land is either owned, protected or cherished by someone or many people. And many people do not want to see that land change or transform into something different from what it has been,” explained Jordan Macknick, the Lead Energy-Water-Land Analyst for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Agrivoltaic projects, Macknick says, could be a sort of compromise. “So agrivoltaics really offers us that opportunity to continue farming, continue doing these agricultural activities while also producing clean electricity.”

Amanda Stoffels feeds her flock of sheep at Elm Branch Solar Farm in Ellis County, Texas. Stoffels earns money by leasing her land to solar developer Lightsource BP and grazing her sheep around the panels.

Juhohn Lee

Crop growing on solar farms is still a nascent area of research and some farmers still have concerns.

“Solar takes some of the best land out of production because they want land that’s 1% to 4% slope,” explained Tom Koranek, a landowner and beekeeper who leases land to Lightsource and produces honey on the solar farm. That flat, treeless land is ideal for both solar panels and crop production, he says.

Still, agrivoltaic projects are as close to a win-win for farmers and solar developers as we currently have, and as the solar industry rapidly expands, experts say we can expect to see agrivoltaics expanding right alongside it.

Opening up new markets

The nation will need to build out a massive amount of utility-scale solar to meet its decarbonization goals. Given that agricultural land comprises 44% of the U.S.’ total land area, many solar developers are looking to cite new projects on farms.

“For solar developers, I think the attraction of agrivoltaics is largely that it helps with community acceptance and community excitement about solar projects” explains Becca Jones-Albertus, Director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Office. “Grazing land in this country is about a third of all of our land use. And if you’re able to make that a dual use with solar energy production, you have now opened up a huge potential market space that wasn’t open before.”

Today, the U.S. has about five gigawatts of agrivoltaic projects, encompassing more than 35,000 acres across over 30 different states. While this only represents about 3% of the country’s installed solar capacity, it’s a growing industry, and farmers are taking note.

“It’s a much better financial contribution than growing crops,” said Koranek about leasing his land to Lightsource. “Crops are very risky. So some years you may make a good return and other years you may not. And so this is a steady income year every year.”

Landowner and beekeeper Tom Koranek shows off the honey he produces at Briar Creek Solar Farm in Navarro County, Texas.

Katie Brigham

Lightsource operates a combined 615 megawatts of sheep grazing and solar power projects, around 12% of the nation’s entire agrivoltaic portfolio. The company plans to add an additional 1,058 megawatts worth of projects next year.

Shell is also involved in the space through its 44% stake in solar developer Silicon Ranch. The ranch operates 1,300 megawatts of agrivoltaic projects with an additional 900 megawatts planned over the next two years.

While most solar developers opt to lease land, Silicon Ranch buys it outright, often purchasing degraded farmland that’s no longer in production.

“We want to tell these communities that we are committed for the long haul, and we’re going to become members of these communities in meaningful ways,” said Silicon Ranch’s Co-Founder and CEO, Reagan Farr. “So our business model of owning real estate was a function of how we viewed this asset class.”

Like Lightsource, Silicon Ranch pays local ranchers to graze sheep on their solar farms. But Farr says the company has encountered a sheep shortage, leading Silicon Ranch to invest in its own flock, which it plans to grow to over 30,000 by 2030.

While there are other players in the domestic agrivoltaic market such as Enel Green Power and US Solar, Lightsource and Silicon Ranch remain the largest players in the space. American oil majors such as Chevron and Exxon haven’t invested in agrivoltaics.

Solar plus crop production

While it’s relatively well understood how to graze sheep and create pollinator habitats among solar panels, it’s a trickier prospect to grow crops below and between the panels.

Many crops such as tomatoes and broccoli can theoretically grow beneath solar panels, but the design of the solar array usually needs to be altered, often by elevating the panels so that crops can reach their full height. That gets costly, and while the economics can work for small-scale projects in markets with strong solar incentives, scaling up is a challenge.

“I would say given the existing cost of PV technology, given the existing energy markets that we have in the United States, it will be very challenging to see crop production agrivoltaics happen at a scale bigger than five megawatts at a time,” says Macknick.

But even if we won’t see utility-scale crop production and solar energy projects anytime soon, there’s still a lot of energy in this space. The Department of Energy is currently funding six agrivoltaic projects, with the goal of enabling the deployment of over 1 megawatt of projects focused on crop production, and over 10 megawatts of projects focused on grazing and pollinator habitats.

Lightsource BP says it’s interested in getting into crop production, hoping that one of its sites can serve as a test project next year. Farr says Silicon Ranch isn’t pursuing partnerships yet. But whatever route both companies, and their oil industry backers, take, community relationships and mutually beneficial land-use arrangements are going to be paramount.

“We need to bring value to the communities where we site these solar arrays, or we’re going to lose our social license to operate. And that’s going to hurt our ability to meet some of these very aggressive, renewable energy goals that we have as a country,” said Farr.

Watch the video to learn more about the emerging agrivoltaics industry and hear from the farmers involved.

Environment

Tesla Semi suffers more delays and ‘dramatic’ price increase

Published

32 mins ago

April 4, 2025

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Tesla Semi suffers more delays and 'dramatic' price increase

According to a Tesla Semi customer, the electric truck program is suffering more delays and a price increase that is described as “dramatic.”

Tesla Semi has seen many delays, more than any other vehicle program at Tesla.

It was initially unveiled in 2017, and CEO Elon Musk claimed that it would go into production in 2019.

In late 2022, Tesla held an event where it unveiled the “production version” of the Tesla Semi and delivered the first few units to a “customer-partner”: PepsiCo.

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Tesla Semi PepsiCo truck u/Tutrifor — Tesla Semi Image credit: u/Tutrifor

More than 3 years later, the vehicle never went into volume production. Instead, Tesla only ran a very low volume pilot production at a factory in Nevada and only delivered a few dozen trucks to customers as part of test programs.

But Tesla promised that things would finally happen for the Tesla Semi this year.

Tesla has been building a new high-volume production factory specifically for the Tesla Semi program in a new building next to Gigafactory Nevada.

The goal was to start production in 2025, start customer deliveries, and ramp up to 50,000 trucks yearly.

Now, Ryder, a large transportation company and early customer-partner in Tesla’s semi truck program, is talking about further delays. The company also refers to a significant price increase.

California’s Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee (MSRC) awarded Ryder funding for a project to deploy Tesla Semi trucks and Megachargers at two of its facilities in the state.

Ryder had previously asked for extensions amid the delays in the Tesla Semi program.

In a new letter sent to MSRC last week and obtained by Electrek, Ryder asked the agency for another 28-month delay. The letter references delays in “Tesla product design, vehicle production” and it mentions “dramatic changes to the Tesla product economics”:

This extension is needed due to delays in Tesla product design, vehicle production and dramatic changes to the Tesla product economics. These delays have caused us to reevaluate the current Ryder fleet in the area.

The logistics company now says it plans to “deploy 18 Tesla Semi vehicles by June 2026.”

The reference to “dramatic changes to the Tesla product economics” points to a significant price increase for the Tesla Semi, which further communication with MSRC confirms.

In the agenda of a meeting to discuss the extension and changes to the project yesterday, MSRC confirms that the project went from 42 to 18 Tesla Semi trucks while the project commitment is not changing:

Ryder has indicated that their electric tractor manufacturer partner, Tesla, has experienced continued delays in product design and production. There have also been dramatic changes to the product economics. Ryder requests to reduce the number of vehicles from 42 to 18, stating that this would maintain their $7.5 million private match commitment.

In addition to the electric trucks, the project originally involved installing two integrated power centers and four Tesla Megachargers, split between two locations. Ryder is also looking to now install 3 Megachargers per location for a total of 6 instead of 4.

The project changes also mention that “Ryder states that Tesla now requires 600kW chargers rather than the 750kW units originally engineered.”

Tesla Semi Price

When originally unveiling the Tesla Semi in 2017, the automaker mentioned prices of $150,000 for a 300-mile range truck and $180,000 for the 500-mile version. Tesla also took orders for a “Founder’s Series Semi” at $200,000.

However, Tesla didn’t update the prices when launching the “production version” of the truck in late 2023. Price increases have been speculated, but the company has never confirmed them.

New diesel-powered Class 8 semi trucks in the US today often range between $150,000 and $220,000.

The combination of a reasonable purchase price and low operation costs, thanks to cheaper electric rates than diesel, made the Tesla Semi a potentially revolutionary product to reduce the overall costs of operation in trucking while reducing emissions.

However, Ryder now points to a “dramatic” price increase for the Tesla Semi.

What is the cost of a Tesla Semi electric truck now?

Electrek’s Take

As I have often stated, Tesla Semi is the vehicle program I am most excited about at Tesla right now.

If Tesla can produce class 8 trucks capable of moving cargo of similar weight as diesel trucks over 500 miles on a single charge in high volume at a reasonable price point, they have a revolutionary product on their hands.

But the reasonable price part is now being questioned.

After reading the communications between Ryder and MSRC, while not clear, it looks like the program could be interpreted as MSRC covering the costs of installing the charging stations while Ryder committed $7.5 million to buying the trucks.

The math makes sense for the original funding request since $7.5 million divided by 42 trucks results in around $180,000 per truck — what Tesla first quoted for the 500-mile Tesla Semi truck.

Now, with just 18 trucks, it would point to a price of $415,000 per Tesla Semi truck. It’s possible that some of Ryder’s commitment could also go to an increase in Megacharger prices – either per charger or due to the two additional chargers. MSRC said that they don’t give more money when prices go up after an extension.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the 500-mile Tesla Semi ends up costing $350,000 to $400,000.

If that’s the case, Tesla Semi is impressive, but it won’t be the revolutionary product that will change the trucking industry.

It will need to be closer to $250,000-$300,000 to have a significant impact, which is not impossible with higher-volume production but would be difficult.

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Environment

BP chair Helge Lund to step down after oil major pledges strategic reset

Published

3 hours ago

April 4, 2025

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BP chair Helge Lund to step down after oil major pledges strategic reset

British oil and gasoline company BP (British Petroleum) signage is being pictured in Warsaw, Poland, on July 29, 2024.

Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images

British oil major BP on Friday said its chair Helge Lund will soon step down, kickstarting a succession process shortly after the company launched a fundamental strategic reset.

“Having fundamentally reset our strategy, bp’s focus now is on delivering the strategy at pace, improving performance and growing shareholder value,” Lund said in a statement.

“Now is the right time to start the process to find my successor and enable an orderly and seamless handover,” he added.

Lund is expected to step down in 2026. BP said the succession process will be led by Amanda Blanc in her capacity as senior independent director.

Shares of BP traded 2.2% lower on Friday morning. The London-listed firm has lagged its industry rivals in recent years.

BP announced in February that it plans to ramp up annual oil and gas investment to $10 billion through 2027 and slash spending on renewables as part of its new strategic direction.

Analysts have broadly welcomed BP’s renewed focus on hydrocarbons, although the beleaguered energy giant remains under significant pressure from activist investors.

U.S. hedge fund Elliott Management has built a stake of around 5% to become one of BP’s largest shareholders, according to Reuters.

Activist investor Follow This, meanwhile, recently pushed for investors to vote against Lund’s reappointment as chair at BP’s April 17 shareholder meeting in protest over the firm’s recent strategy U-turn.

Lund had previously backed BP’s 2020 strategy, when Bernard Looney was CEO, to boost investment in renewables and cut production of oil and gas by 40% by 2030.

BP CEO Murray Auchincloss, who took the helm on a permanent basis in January last year, is under significant pressure to reassure investors that the company is on the right track to improve its financial performance.

‘A more clearly defined break’

“Elliott continues to press BP for a sharper, more clearly defined break with the strategy to pivot more quickly toward renewables, that was outlined by Bernard Looney when he was CEO,” Russ Mould, AJ Bell’s investment director, told CNBC via email on Friday.

“Mr Lund was chair then and so he is firmly associated with that plan, which current boss Murray Auchincloss is refining,” he added.

Mould said activist campaigns tend to have “fairly classic thrusts,” such as a change in management or governance, higher shareholder distributions, an overhaul of corporate structure and operational improvements.

“In BP’s case, we now have a shift in capital allocation and a change in management, so it will be interesting to see if this appeases Elliott, though it would be no surprise if it feels more can and should be done,” Mould said.

Environment

Quick Charge | hydrogen hype falls flat amid very public failures

Published

10 hours ago

April 3, 2025

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Quick Charge | hydrogen hype falls flat amid very public failures

On today’s hyped up hydrogen episode of Quick Charge, we look at some of the fuel’s recent failures and billion dollar bungles as the fuel cell crowd continues to lose the credibility race against a rapidly evolving battery electric market.

We’re taking a look at some of the recent hydrogen failures of 2025 – including nine-figure product cancellations in the US and Korea, a series of simultaneous bus failures in Poland, and European executives, experts, and economists calling for EU governments to ditch hydrogen and focus on the deployment of a more widespread electric trucking infrastructure.

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New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded, usually, Monday through Thursday (and sometimes Sunday). We’ll be posting bonus audio content from time to time as well, so be sure to follow and subscribe so you don’t miss a minute of Electrek’s high-voltage daily news.

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