Desemboque del Seri, a community in northern Mexico, has seen stunning results after installing solar panels in family vegetable gardens.
Verónica Molina, a member of the indigenous Comcaac community, has led the charge, according to Inter Press Service. After learning about solar farms in India in 2016, that experience inspired her to change how her community functioned.
This change has allowed Molina's community to save money and live in a healthier environment. While this technology is relatively new to Mexico, Molina's work has the potential to revolutionize how many people live.
"With the panels, we pay less for energy, and with the gardens we save money on vegetables," Molina said in a translated statement to IPS.
The panels cover 25% to 75% of a house's energy needs. The vegetable gardens produce 100 to 200 kilograms of fresh vegetables each year.
This process and any combination of farming and solar systems are known as agrivoltaics. They allow communities to use land for multiple purposes at once. This saves money and allows communities to use their resources effectively.
Farmers can also use agrivoltaics to keep their livelihood alive and spend less on maintaining their way of living.
For example, Sun'Agri's program in France promises lower temperatures during heatwaves and higher temperatures during frosts. It also claims that farmers will use 12% to 50% less water on crops under solar panels.
Per Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, farmers are worried about their land being taken away. But solar developers are determined to work with farmers to keep their land intact and provide clean energy.
"We realized if we spaced out the panels a little bit more, they wouldn't shade each other so much, … and we could get three or four very clean tractor passes between the panels," said Greg Hering, CEO and co-founder of Boston-based ClearPath Energy, of an installation in New Bremen, New York, to CALS.
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Energy independence ⚡ While it's unclear when this technology will spread across Mexico, Molina's community is leading the way toward progress.
And Mexico's president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has vowed to have Mexico produce 45% of its electricity with renewable sources by 2030. If this happens, AP News says that Mexico will be on track to fulfill its commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement.
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