Doral Renewables has partnered with Purdue University in the United States to launch an initiative addressing extreme weather and growing energy demands in rural Midwestern communities. Named the Midwestern Agrivoltaic Resilient Communities (MARC) project, it is scheduled for implementation in 2025 under the National Science Foundation's Regional Innovation Engines program.
The agrivoltaics research project aims to combine solar power generation with agricultural production through a dual-use model to enhance food output and energy reliability. The research will establish a demonstration area within the Mammoth Solar project in Indiana for crop trials, robotics testing, and monitoring system evaluations to explore how agrivoltaics can optimize land use and improve agricultural efficiency.
Doral Renewables is also collaborating with Nextpower (formerly Nextracker), which will provide NX Horizon solar tracker technology and proprietary planning software to support agricultural monitoring, performance modeling, and resilience enhancement under severe weather conditions. Jake Morin, Chief Product Officer at Nextpower, stated: "Agrivoltaics is more mature in markets like Europe. This initiative is a significant opportunity to advance dual-use solar development in the United States. We are proud to partner with Purdue University and Doral to apply our expertise to agrivoltaics research, helping landowners and rural communities better understand how solar infrastructure and agriculture can work together to increase productivity and resilience."
The MARC project is dedicated to addressing challenges faced by farmers and rural communities, such as power outages caused by storms, economic losses from crop damage, and uncertainties regarding the performance of agrivoltaic systems under harsh weather conditions. Dan Chavas, Principal Investigator at Purdue University, noted: "When hail destroys harvests, heat stresses livestock, or storms cut off power, farmers and their communities are severely impacted. Our goal is to understand how agrivoltaics can make rural communities more resilient and prosperous."
