Sheep grazing solar farms spreads across Maine, as Nexamp reaches 90 sites in 5 states

Sheep grazing solar farms spreads across Maine

Sheep grazing solar farms means letting sheep eat the grass and weeds growing under and between solar panels instead of sending a crew out to mow it. Nexamp, a solar developer, runs its own version of the practice, called the Solar Grazing Program, and a majority of the Nexamp solar farms in Maine now use it. Shepherd Matt Kovarik of Black Earth Grazing brings his flock to graze the Felts Brook solar farm in Brewer, one of several Maine sites where the program runs. Nexamp needs the grass kept short because tall vegetation can shade the panels and block them from catching the sun they need to make electricity.

We have a couple hundred sheep that we are grazing in different groups across the state.

Matt Kovarik, shepherd with Black Earth Grazing, whose sheep graze the Felts Brook solar farm in Brewer, Maine. Source 1.

The national program behind the Maine flocks

Nexamp started the program in 2018 with a single flock of 150 sheep on a 30 acre solar site in Newfield, New York. This season the company grazes sheep and cattle at approximately 90 sites across 5 states, covering more than 1,800 acres, and it says the footprint has grown steadily, nearly doubling each year since that first flock arrived. For a solar developer weighing whether grazing pays for itself against mowing, that growth from 1 site to 90 is itself the evidence the company points to.

Why Nexamp pays shepherds instead of a mowing crew

Nexamp pays the shepherds who bring their flocks, rather than asking them to graze for free or charging them for the access. Keith Hevenor, the communication manager at Nexamp, said the arrangement costs the company about the same as hiring a landscaping crew, while sheep avoid a risk mowers and weed cutting equipment carry, kicking up rocks or debris into the panels. For Kovarik, the paid work is part of what makes the arrangement worth doing.

For us, cost wise, it's about the same cost as hiring a landscaping crew.

Keith Hevenor, communication manager at Nexamp. Source 1.

We are getting paid to do it. I think that having that opportunity is really awesome for us.

Matt Kovarik, shepherd with Black Earth Grazing. Source 1.

How Maine sheep fit into a bigger national trend

Sheep grazing is the most popular livestock activity across the 596 agrivoltaic sites the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy counts nationally, sites that combine solar power generation with farming, grazing or habitat on the same land, together covering 65,699 acres and 10,473 megawatts of generating capacity as of early 2025. The center also finds that sheep raised this way produce roughly 25% less greenhouse gas emissions than conventionally grazed sheep, because they skip the corn and soybean feed and need less herbicide on the land they graze. The American Solar Grazing Association, the farmer focused group Nexamp partners with, counts more than 1,400 farmers, solar developers and other members nationally since it started in 2008. The national grazing footprint Nexamp reports this season is a small share of that much larger national total, shown below. Nexamp is now testing whether larger animals can do the same job, grazing 5 cattle, 4 heifers and 1 bull, at 2 of its New York sites since June 2026, under farmer Rebekah Pierce.