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Balance between respect for the agriculture, local communities and renewable sources: at Enerland we are committed to these three major pillars in our projects, promoting activities such as “solar grazing”.

 

Our Environmental team works in coordination with different departments at Enerland Group, offering measures and initiatives during the development, construction and operation of photovoltaic projects. The work of our environmentalists includes a wide variety of proposals and measures, always ensuring biodiversity and sustainability in all processes. One of these measures, which combines conservation of the natural environment and collaboration with the local community, is solar grazing.

 

Benefits of solar grazing

 

This activity, as its name suggests, consists of grazing sheep on the site of the photovoltaic plant. Solar grazing is done both before the start of construction of the project and after its completion, during the operation phase. The activity is done on demand, approximately two to three times a year, usually in spring and fall. The intervention of the sheep allows the land to be cleared naturally, avoiding the use of herbicides and chemical products, thus protecting the soil.

Enerland Group has already promoted solar grazing activities with great success in several of our PV plants in Spain, such as Pitarco o Sádaba. For each of them, we have relied on local sheperds, who have previously completed the proper protocols to access the plant, also preseting health certificates for the livestock. Traditional means such as this are always our preference when conducting soil care tasks, opting for manual alternatives when the opportunity does not arise.

Nevertheless, this is the most beneficial method. Not only for the sheep, by converting the land into pasture, which avoids the use of chemicals, but also provides advantages for the maintenance of the PV plant itself. As no machinery is involved in the clearing process, any kind of damage, however minimal, to the modules is avoided. In addition, the work of the herd, on a continuous basis, allows regulating the type of vegetation of the plant in a natural way, reducing the presence of invasive and taller species.

A sustainable strategy for the environment and the production of green energy!