What are Agrivoltaics?
Agrivoltaics, also known as co-location or dual-use solar, is a system in which both solar and agriculture production co-exist on the same plot of land, with crops or livestock production underneath solar modules. The co-location of solar photovoltaics (“PV”) and agriculture can provide agricultural producers with a secondary form of revenue and provide a holistic solution to food and energy security.
Those opposed to solar and wind energy have claimed that solar and wind farms occupy valuable agricultural land. However, agrivoltaics are a valuable compromise. The program increases renewable energy, sustainable food production, and livestock grazing while also preserving the land, natural resources, including pollinator-friendly plants, and providing an income stream for landowners and farmers.
Agrivoltaics can help resolve land-use conflicts and meet increasing demands for both food and energy production, but there are a few barriers to achieving agrivoltaics’ full potential. Most significantly, the installation of solar modules is quite expensive. To overcome barriers to agrivoltaics both the federal and state governments have provided grants to fund research and pilot projects.
What Kind of Funding is Available?
On the federal level, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) and Department of Energy (“DOE”) both provide funding for agrivoltaics research amounting to nearly $40 million between 2020 to 2022. The two agencies have also provided grants and financial incentives to support farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural landowners who want to implement these renewable energy and energy-efficient systems on their land.
USDA takes applications for grants under their Rural Energy for America Program (“REAP”) which provides $145 million to expand renewable energy and lower energy costs to rural Americans. For their 2023 program, they provided $1 million to agrivoltaics programs. Because funding for this program was authorized under the Inflation Reduction Act (“IRA”), REAP’s funding and effectiveness in supporting agrivoltaics may be affected by the recent change in administration.
In the fall of 2024, the DOE commenced the American-Made Large Animal and Solar System Operations (“LASSO”) grant which provided $8 million to support agrivoltaics pilot projects. The program seeks to collect data from the funded agrivoltaics to develop more responsible and effective operations for land use, renewable energy, and agricultural production. The LASSO program had initially planned to announce the winners for Phase One of the program in May 2025; however, DOE has yet to announce any winners.
Only Colorado and New York have provided state-level grant programs to fund agrivoltaics projects. In 2024, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (“NYSERDA”) appropriated $5 million for agrivoltaics demonstration projects with up to $750,000 per project. Over the past two fiscal cycles, the Colorado Department of Agriculture has appropriated $500,000 per year for agrivoltaics research.
How do the Reconciliation Bill and the Upcoming 2026 Budget Affect Agrivoltaics?
Both USDA and DOE, the two largest providers of agrivoltaics grants, have greatly had their budgets slashed for the upcoming fiscal year. In the President’s Budget for the fiscal year 2026 DOE’s total budget was cut by $19.3 billion, and USDA’s budget for the fiscal year of 2026 was cut by nearly $7 billion.
The DOE’s Solar Energy Technologies Office (“SETO”), which is a specific office within the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (“EERE”) that oversees funding for agrivoltaics, will likely see massive cuts to their funding efforts. The proposed budget for 2026 cuts EERE’s budget by nearly $2.6 million. The proposed budget allocates only $888,000 to EERE, significantly diminishing their ability to fund and promote renewable energy programs. This will also threaten the LASSO program, which is by far the largest funding for agrivoltaics research. Evidence of these effects can be seen through the current delays in the administration of the program. In summation, the budget cuts will likely impact all EERE programs, but the reach of these budget cuts is still largely unknown.
Furthermore, at the beginning of 2025, the USDA froze more than $911 million in REAP funds leaving farmers stranded. REAP funds were said to be released by the USDA in March 2025, but recipients were required to review and voluntarily revise their projects to eliminate any climate mandates or DEIA. Moreover, on July 15, 2025, the REAP application window, which was supposed to remain open from July 1st to September 30th, closed unexpectedly. With the series of delays and cancelations farmers are less likely to participate in a system that does not guarantee timely reimbursements. Under the current USDA leadership, the program is set to redirect its goals away from the Green New Deal and the IRA, and disincentivize funding for solar panels on agricultural land.
Lastly, with the Reconciliation Bill signed into law a few weeks ago, the effect on federal agencies’ funding and grant programs are still largely unknown. The recission of IRA funding will immediately affect any projects that rely on that source of funding, and programs will shift away from the climate goals established by the Biden Administration. Moreover, programs and projects that focus on renewable energies will likely be indirectly impacted due to the discontinuation of clean energy tax credits. While the effects of the Reconciliation Bill on agrivoltaics grants are uncertain, the culmination of cuts to budgets, phasing out of tax credits, and changes to grant programs will all indirectly affect the agrivoltaics industry.
DWGP will continue to monitor developments that impact agrivoltaics funding. For additional information on how the Reconciliation Bill and other agency budget cuts may affect your project or for further information concerning the legal issues related to agrivoltaics projects, please contact Keith Gordon, Sylwia Dakowicz or Gelane Diamond.
Article By DWGP Summer Associate Megan Webster – The George Washington University School of Law, May 2026