Raising Sheep at a Solar Power Plant (Part 2) [Collaboration Between Solar Farms and Sheep Ranches]

At the Furukawa Solar Power Plant, built on the site of a former golf course in Miyagi Prefecture, we avoid the use of herbicides and pesticides out of consideration for the natural environment in the downstream area, opting instead for manual weeding. Mowing the grass under solar panels is extremely hard work. Therefore, Pacifico Energy is attempting to manage vegetation by grazing sheep. Let's take a look at how things are going today.

It has been nearly two months since we released the sheep into the grazing area within the power plant in September.
What are the results of the weeding, and how are the sheep doing?

The undergrowth has been neatly trimmed by the sheep.
The sheep weeding team... they are excellent. Bravo.

According to the sheep ranch expert, four sheep became unwell and were taken back. Perhaps it was due to the unfamiliar environment or plants that didn't agree with them. More research is still needed.
Also, there were noticeable patches of uneaten plants, such as Japanese silver grass (susuki) and ferns under the panels. I suppose they don't taste very good. While the ferns don't seem to grow tall enough to cast shadows on the panels, it looks like the Japanese silver grass will need to be mowed by hand.

Since the grass in the grazing area was almost entirely gone, we hurriedly built additional fences to expand the area. The performance of the sheep weeding team has exceeded our expectations.

The Furukawa Solar Power Plant, a green carpet without the use of herbicides

Located in Osaki City, Miyagi Prefecture, the Furukawa Solar Power Plant is the largest solar power plant in the prefecture, with a power generation capacity of 56.7 MW. The Furukawa Solar Power Plant was built by repurposing a golf course that had been quietly situated in the remote mountains of Osaki City. We have utilized the flat terrain of the golf course to arrange the solar panels. Furthermore, by avoiding the use of herbicides and pesticides and relying on mowing machines or manual weeding, we maintain a grassland environment of low to high-stemmed grasses throughout the year.

We have been operating for six years now, but as the greenery has flourished, mowing has become increasingly difficult. As a new method of weeding, Pacifico Energy has collaborated with a sheep ranch that raises livestock to bring in 25 sheep.

The sheep are scheduled to stay at the power plant until November to carry out their weeding duties. We plan to monitor them weekly to see what kind of grass they eat and what they leave behind.

Pacifico Energy constructs and operates many large-scale solar power plants across the country, and we hope to run sheep ranches at as many locations as possible to contribute to the operation of eco-friendly power plants and the improvement of food and energy self-sufficiency.