New Jersey Awards 16 Dual-Use Solar Projects Totaling 52.06 MW in Its First Agrivoltaics Solicitation

Agrivoltaics places panels above or among crops and grazing land rather than taking the field out of production. That distinction is the whole point of the program. New Jersey is dense and its farmland is under development pressure, so a solar buildout that competes with agriculture for acreage runs into a hard political limit. Dual-use is the attempt to route around that limit by using the same acre twice.

Interest ran well ahead of the award. The first solicitation drew 33 preliminary proposals totaling roughly 140 MW, against the 52.06 MW the board actually approved. Projects must sit on unpreserved farmland already in active agricultural or horticultural use. Eligible teams must include a landowner, a farmer and a solar operator, and the farmer has to participate meaningfully in planning and operation rather than simply leasing the ground.