The pasture got better with solar panels

Anyone passing Tågra, just outside Sjöbo in south-east Skåne, sees long rows of solar panels across 30 hectares. Yet the park is no break in the farmed landscape but a living part of it, with grazing sheep and green grass.

The solar park is a collaboration with Sparbanken Skåne and the landowner Carl Axel Dahlgren, who has a keen interest in producing meat with as little energy as possible. The site was chosen because the land could go on working as pasture, not because it stood unused.

Better grazing than expected

The park was built in two phases and completed in September 2021. The panels produce about 19 GWh a year, enough to supply almost 3,000 houses with household electricity. The effect on grazing has also exceeded expectations.

The land used to be drifting sand that burned completely brown in dry spells. Now the panels give shade and break the wind, so the soil keeps its moisture better. “Things actually grow better now than they did before,” says Carl Axel Dahlgren.

More biodiversity, and more lamb

The biologists who studied the land before and after it became a solar park say biodiversity has increased. That pesticides and artificial fertiliser are no longer used also plays a part.

Carl Axel Dahlgren believes landowners and the public will become more and more positive about solar parks, at least in some places. “Especially in dry areas that are unproductive for food production, it actually gets better. Even if we don’t sow and harvest wheat and other crops, there’s more lamb in the end,” he says.