A New Vision for solar in America
Who we are
In September 2022, American Farmland Trust, Edelen Renewables, and Arcadia launched a partnership to create a new kind of solar company focused on serving the needs of farmers, ranchers, and landowners.
This partnership, now known as Farmers Powering Communities, aims to protect America’s most productive farmland and ranchland while expanding equitable access to renewable energy in target communities throughout the nation.
Adding to the team’s combined prowess, Aggreko Energy Transition Solutions joined as a strategic partner in May 2023, further strengthening the initiative’s capacity to make significant strides in the renewable energy sector.
Our Mission
By bringing together those working to feed the planet with those working to power America, Farmers Powering Communities helps ensure that solar development is deployed in a way that maximizes the benefits to farmers, ranchers, and rural communities.
Farmers Powering Communities focuses exclusively on advancing community-scale solar projects of 25 to 50 acres to provide green energy capable of reaching two-thirds of Americans, including many low and moderate-income families, who don’t have access to rooftop solar.
The goal is to create 500MW of community solar capacity in five years.
A tractor in between solar panels at Jack’s Solar Garden in Longmont, Colorado. (Photo by Werner Slocum / NREL)
Smart Solar
What makes Farmers Powering Communities different from other solar developers?
All FPC projects are guided by American Farmland Trust’s Smart Solar℠ principles. These principles prioritize placing solar on buildings and land not well-suited for farming, like the built environment, as well as disturbed, contaminated, and marginal lands. The goal? Minimize conversion of our nation’s most productive, versatile, and resilient farmland.
FPC projects built on farm and ranch land will emphasize agrivoltaics that sustain agricultural production underneath solar panels and/or between rows of solar panels throughout the life of the project.
