The Southeast’s Untapped Potential: Agrivoltaics, Policy, and the Path Forward

This news is mostly about large-scale solar farms, not home rooftop systems, but it touches on trends worth knowing if you live in the Southeast. "Agrivoltaics" means combining solar panels with farming — grazing animals, pollinator gardens, or crops on the same land as a solar array. It's growing nationwide, but in the Southeast (Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina), there's no state law requiring or funding it. Instead, these states offer voluntary guidance and certification programs, mostly focused on pollinator habitats, through agencies like South Carolina's DNR or Florida's university-run Scorecard system.

Other states go further with direct money: Massachusetts pays landowners extra through its SMART solar program, Maryland offers property tax breaks, and Colorado has awarded $1.3 million in research grants plus its own tax exemption. The Southeast has no comparable financial incentives yet, partly because the region's utilities operate as regulated monopolies, which has historically slowed solar-friendly policy generally.

Meanwhile, federal rule changes since mid-2025 have made it harder to build any solar project, including agrivoltaic ones — new permitting reviews, funding caps on a USDA rural energy program, and restrictions on foreign-made equipment. A recent court injunction blocked some of these rules, though the government is appealing. None of this changes rebates or programs available for a home energy upgrade, but it's a sign that if you live near farmland, you may start seeing more solar-and-grazing or solar-and-pollinator projects in your area, especially as more states debate legislation on the topic.