Journal of Science Policy & Governance
Volume 21, Issue 01 | October 17, 2022

Policy Memo: Incentivizing Agrivoltaics to Improve Farmland Resiliency and Meet Renewable Energy Demands in Indiana

Audrey Taylor (1), Morgan Munsen (2)
  1. University of Notre Dame, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, Notre Dame, IN
  2. University of Notre Dame, Department of Psychology, Notre Dame, IN
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​Corresponding author: [email protected]​
Keywords: agriculture; solar energy; agrivoltaics; land use; property tax
 https://doi.org/10.38126/JSPG210108

Executive Summary

As Indiana looks to the future, it must balance the long-term success of its large agricultural sector with the need to increase renewable energy production and combat climate change. Often these goals seem to conflict with one another, but agrivoltaics – the dual use of land for active agricultural use and solar farming – is one technology uniquely situated to address these competing interests. However, current policies do not explicitly consider agrivoltaic systems and are ill-suited to spur further solar development in Indiana. Therefore, we propose amending Indiana Code § 6-1.1-8 to establish a preferential land use assessment program for a new “dual-use solar” land type code. Such a change would initiate investment in agrivoltaics technology and incentivize farmland preservation in the solar energy sector.

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Background header image courtesy of USDA
Audrey Taylor recently graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a Ph.D. in Earth Sciences. Her research focused on reconstructing past climate and ecosystem change in southeastern Africa and the Mediterranean region using sedimentary biomarker proxies. As a 2023 John A. Knauss Marine Policy Finalist with the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant program, she is also interested in science policy and using her knowledge of environmental variability through Earth’s history to improve climate science communication and action.

Morgan Munsen recently graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a Ph.D. in Psychology and a minor in Quantitative Studies. Her research focused on how pre-existing factors (such as confirmation bias) shape how humans process new information and integrate information into memory. More broadly, she is interested in individual decision-making and belief-formation processes, and, in particular, how individuals (whether citizens, policymakers, or otherwise) evaluate information and communicate about it. She is soon starting work with a Notre Dame interdisciplinary research institute that investigates how we live meaningful lives, shaped by the 2022-2023 theme: “The Public”.

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