Following a state-wide pilot program, Dominion Energy invited even more sheep onto it’s solar farms.
CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Hundreds of sheep now call Hampton Roads home, after Dominion Energy hired shepherds with ‘Gray’s LAMBscaping,’ to graze two solar farms in Chesapeake and Virginia Beach.
“They love to eat, that is for sure,” said Marcus Gray.
Husband-wife duo, Marcus and Jess Gray watch over their flock as the sheep graze underneath solar panels for more than 500 acres of land.
They moved the herds to Hampton Roads, following a successful pilot program led by Dominion Energy to combine traditional sheep farming with a modern backdrop.
“If you think about it – it’s a really perfect pairing for solar farms because sheep and solar farms are both environmentally friendly alternatives to their traditional counterparts,” said Tim Eberly, spokesman for Dominion Energy.
Dominion Energy was a part of a pilot program; testing how to upkeep thousands of acres of solar panel farm land across Virginia while doing so in an eco-friendly way by utilizing herds of sheep instead of crews of equipment.
Eberly said it was so successful, they brought hundreds of more sheep to their farms as they expanded the program.
“I just don’t think it can be overstated the benefits of farming here, you are producing energy and farming the land,” said Gray. “It’s definitely a different operation than you might be used to but there’s a huge opportunity here.”
Approximately 17,500 homes receive power from one solar farm alone.
A herd as large as 80-90 sheep can graze roughly two acres of farmland daily.
Now, the sheep on the solar farms are starting to give birth to baby lambs, who are integrating as part of the flock.
“They’re providing vegetation maintenance service. They’re basically our lawnmowers.”
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