We’ve been reflecting on another great year here at the Colorado Agrivoltaic Learning Center and Jack’s Solar Garden. Before we highlight some of the cool things we did last year, and what's coming up this year, we'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who supported us in 2024 by joining our tours, events, webinars, and seminars. We could not do what we do, without you!
We look forward to connecting with you in 2025!
With love, from Colorado Agrivoltaic Learning Center team.
Since we last spoke…
We published a new article
Congratulations to Allison Jackson & Byron Kominek for publishing an article with the Federation of American Scientists, setting out recommendations for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to better support agrivoltaics.
BLM has designated over 31 million acres of federal land across 11 states as priority zones for future solar development. BLM can lead the way in ensuring U.S. solar array designs integrate traditional ranching and grazing operations if changes are made to the BLM’s right-of-way application materials. Changes to the application materials that address how solar arrays are planned, designed, and operated to support traditional ranching practices can be a win-win-win for America’s energy industry, American ranchers, and our rural American economies.
We hosted 4 more seminar sessions from October through December!
Thank you to everyone who joined us for this inaugural seminar series, including all of our panelists:
Oct 3:Ted Kowalski (Walton Family Foundation),Heather Swanson (City of Boulder OSMP), Mike Flowers (City of Thornton), and Terese Glowacki (Boulder County Open Space)
Oct 24: Aaron Ray (Dept of Natural Resources), Bryan Wegman (Namaste Solar), Danny Weaver (Sandbox Solar), and Martin Beggs (McKinstry)
Nov 7: Kristen Boysen (Colorado Department of Agriculture), ClarkHarshbarger (Mad Agriculture), Nick DiDomenico (Drylands Agroecology Research), Lauren Kelso (Growing Gardens), and Andy Breiter (Grama Grass & Livestock)
Dec 5: Byron Kominek (CALC), Terry Nelson (Namaste Solar), Nate Zirlen (Pivot Energy), and Jordan House (Vanguard Solar Services).
And a huge thank you to those who have supported with sponsorship for this series: CU Boulder Division of Infrastructure & Sustainability, CSU Ag Experiment Station, Farm to Power, and Alpine Bank. Finally, thank you to Colorado State University, and the University of Colorado, Boulder for their continued support with this series.
This free series will continue monthly until April 2025. Check out upcoming dates below, and on our website.
We hosted our final two webinars of the year
As a reminder, all of our free webinars are recorded! You can find recordings for all webinars from 2023 and 2024 here.
If there are any webinar topics we haven't covered but you'd like to hear, please reach out to us with suggestions!
2024 RECAP
What a year its been!
Hosted 76 Private and public tours at Jack's Solar Garden
Attended 18 conferences/seminars nationwide
Hosted 6 freeseminars in Boulder & Fort Collins
Attended 11 events and hosted 3 onsite events
Hosted 42 K-12 tours on and offsite
Check out our impact numbers below!
COMING UP IN 2025
We are working hard on planning our 2025 schedule. Here are some important dates for your calendar!
Free Seminar Series
The final 4 sessions of our free seminar series are coming up in the first quarter of the year! Please join us at these sessions to hear from our panel, ask them questions, and enjoy a free catered happy hour afterwards. More information about individual sessions can be found on our website here.
January 23: Conservation in Colorado Farmland, Water, Wildlife & Biodiversity (Boulder)
February 13: Solar asset owners (*Final session at CSU, Fort Collins)
March 6: Research and Academics (Boulder)
April 17: Philanthropy, funding, and seminar finale (Boulder)
Free Webinar Series
Our free webinar series will continue throughout 2025.
Keep these dates free from 1pm-2.30pm Mountain Time!
More information on topics and panelists will be shared throughout the year - but here's a sneak preview of our first two for the year!
Agrivoltaic Development Workshops
We will be hosting two more 2-day onsite workshops at Jack's Solar Garden this year.
June 12-13
August 14-15
Keep an eye out on our website and Spring newsletter for more information on registration.
Tours & events
The tour season at Jack’s Solar Garden runs from April-October! Public tours will be held bi-weekly on Saturdays throughout the season starting on April 19th (weather permitting).
