In this episode of the Clean Power Hour, Tim Montague interviews Dan French, the founder of the Solar Farm Summit, an event dedicated to promoting and advancing agrivoltaic solar (also known as dual-use solar or solar grazing). Dan shares his background, starting from his work as an attorney for BP Oil, then making his mark in brownfield solar development to his current focus on agrivoltaics and agrisolar.
Dan French is Founder and Executive Producer of Brightfield Productions, which produces the Solar Farm Summit, North America's Agrivoltaics Expo, in Chicago, IL as well as the Virginia Solar Summit in Richmond, VA. Having hosted dozens of dynamic development conferences in his career from California to Minnesota to New Hampshire, Dan serves as market-maker and meta-developer and is known for producing deeply substantive, catalytic and market-moving events achieving rare calibers of interdisciplinary collaboration and professional cross-pollination.
Dan is also Founder and Principal of dbForesites, a global advisory boutique translating planetary megatrends in economics, energy, and environment into actionable intelligence for funds, family offices, corporations, and governments. Known for his intense candor, cutting insights, sharp analyses and unorthodox strategies, Mr. French is a former corporate attorney with a unique blend of domestic and international perspective as well as extensive experience with complex transactions and exotic classes of real estate and risk helping decision-makers facilitate both ideation and implementation from the strategic level to the tactical and brainstorming grand strategies and baselining scenario frameworks to developing guidance re individual investments, site selection, real estate development and/or divestment, and portfolio de-risking.
Tim and Dan's discussion covers the current state of agrivoltaic practices in the United States, which Dan categorizes into three buckets: crops, critters (livestock grazing), and conservation. Dan highlights the potential benefits of agrivoltaics, such as increased crop yields, water conservation, and environmental gains through pollinator habitat restoration.
Dan provides insights into the upcoming Solar Farm Summit, where topics like USDA initiatives, soil health under solar panels, and solar grazing best practices will be covered. He emphasizes the importance of bringing together different stakeholders, including farmers, ranchers, researchers, and policymakers, to accelerate the adoption of agrivoltaic systems.
The interview also touches on the myths surrounding agrivoltaics, such as the misconception that nothing can grow under solar panels. Dan dispels these myths and discusses the cost-effectiveness of agrivoltaic systems, highlighting their potential to mitigate environmental issues associated with traditional ground-mount solar development.
Social Media Handles
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-french-4354047/
https://solarfarmsummit.com/
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0:00 - Intro
1:59 - Dan French's Background
4:09 - The State of Agrivoltaics in the US
6:44 - Inspiration for the Solar Farm Summit
9:32 - Highlights of the Upcoming Summit
12:39 - Dispelling Myths About Agrivoltaics
15:29 - Cost-Effectiveness of Agrivoltaic Systems
16:36 - The Solar Farm Summit What You Need to Know
19:49 - Closing Remarks
