A Tennessee solar farm is testing whether cattle can graze beneath solar panels, combining clean energy generation with much-needed income for struggling ranchers.

      田纳西州一座太阳能电站正在试验能否在光伏板下方放牧，将清洁能源发电与为经营困难的牧场主补充急需收入相结合。

    Silicon Ranch’s innovative⁽²⁾ technology lowers panels during grazing periods so cattle can enjoy shade and moisture retention⁽³⁾ while the site produces roughly 5 megawatts of electricity.

       硅牧场公司的创新技术可在放牧期间降低光伏板高度，既能让牲畜享受阴凉、保持土壤水分，该场地同时还能发电约5兆瓦。

     Ranchers could earn up to $1,000 per acre leasing land for solar — 10 times the traditional farming income — helping them to keep operations productive and diversify their livelihoods.

      牧场主出租土地用于太阳能开发，每英亩最高可收入1000美元，是传统农业收入的十倍，助力他们维持产业运营、实现收入来源多元化。

      CHRISTIANA, Tenn. — From a distance, the small solar farm in central Tennessee looks like others that now dot⁽⁴⁾ rural America, with row upon row of black panels absorbing the sun’s rays, creating a flow of clean electricity.

      田纳西州克里斯蒂安娜讯 —— 远远望去，这座位于田纳西州中部的小型太阳能电站，和如今遍布美国乡村的其他电站并无二致：一排排黑色光伏板吸收太阳光能，源源不断产出清洁电力。

    But beneath the panels is lush pasture, not gravel, enjoyed by a small herd of cattle that spends their days munching grass and resting in the shade.

      但光伏板下方并非碎石空地，而是草木繁茂的牧场，一小群牛整日在此吃草休憩、纳凉避暑。

     Silicon Ranch, which owns the 40-acre farm in Christiana, outside Nashville, believes cattle-grazing is the next frontier⁽⁵⁾ in so-called agrivoltaics, which mostly has involved growing crops or grazing sheep beneath the panels.

     拥有这座纳什维尔郊外克里斯蒂安娜40英亩电站的硅牧场公司认为，牧牛模式是光伏农业领域的下一个发展前沿。目前光伏农业大多是在板下种植农作物或放牧绵羊。

     The solar company debuted⁽⁶⁾ the project last week and will spend the next year working to demonstrate⁽⁷⁾ to farmers that much larger herds of cattle also can thrive⁽⁸⁾ at solar sites. If successful, advocates⁽⁹⁾ say, that could jump-start new projects to meet the soaring electricity demand driven by rapidly expanding data centers — without contributing climate-warming carbon emissions — and help cattle producers hold on to their land and livelihoods.

      这家太阳能公司于上周正式推出该项目，并将在未来一年向农户论证：更大规模的牛群也能在光伏园区良好生存。支持者表示，一旦试验成功，或将催生大批新项目，既能满足数据中心快速扩张带来的电力激增需求、不产生加剧气候变暖的碳排放，又能帮助养牛户守住土地、维持生计。

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