Por November 23, 2023

The objective of the PASTORE-FV initiative, launched by CICYTEX, is to make these facilities more sustainable.

He Extremadura Centre for Scientific and Technological Research (CICYTEX) has launched, together with three national entities and with the collaboration of the General Directorate of Sustainability of the Junta de Extremadura, the initiative PASTOREO-FV, a research project that aims to implement management strategies based on extensive livestock farming in photovoltaic plants to make these facilities more sustainable.

Through a collaboration agreement, valid until December 2025, with a livestock farm and a photovoltaic solar plant located in Badajoz, CICYTEX will launch a pilot experience in photovoltaic plants, based on the design and implementation of management strategies through improved vegetation cover and grazing.

Thus, the "Los Rostros" farm will provide sheep for the use of the pastures of said experimental area, following specific livestock strategies defined by CICYTEX technicians.

According to information shared by the Extremadura Center for Scientific and Technological Research, A second collaboration agreement to replicate this work will be formalized soon. in another photovoltaic plant located in the Tierra de Barros region.

Livestock farming as an integrating tool for agricultural and energy uses

The use of livestock, generally sheep, to control the spontaneous herbaceous cover generated in photovoltaic plants is not new. Sheep farming has traditionally been used to minimize the risk of fires through the consumption of existing herbaceous biomass.

With this work, CICYTEX proposes a paradigm shift in which livestock farming is also a resource that generates economic, environmental and social wealth in the areas where the plants are located. Likewise, it proposes the implementation of agricultural actions in photovoltaic plants adapted to the regional context, which allow for the compatibility of agricultural and energy use.

PASTOREO-FV is supported by the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU. The knowledge and results generated by the project will be transferred to the energy and agricultural sectors upon its completion.

At Agroingex we are committed to sustainability and the care of the fields of Extremadura when it comes to taking advantage of the energy resources that the sun offers us in a community with more than 3,106 hours of sunshine per year.