In this episode, we hear from Savannah Whitfield. Savannah is the COO and co-founder of Okovate Sustainable Energy. Okovate develops agrivoltaics projects, dual-use solar projects on agriculture land. Savannah shares her journey working in solar and agrivoltaics. We discuss the benefits of agrivoltaics, regenerative agriculture, climate resiliency, electrifying farm operations, and the future of agrivoltaics in the US.
In this episode, we hear from Savannah Whitfield. Savannah is the COO and co-founder of Okovate Sustainable Energy. Okovate develops agrivoltaics projects, dual-use solar projects on agriculture land. Savannah shares her journey working in solar and agrivoltaics. We discuss the benefits of agrivoltaics, regenerative agriculture, climate resiliency, electrifying farm operations, and the future of agrivoltaics in the US.
Connect with Savannah:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/savannah-whitfield/
Agrivoltaics Resources:
NREL's Agrivoltaics Research: Combining Solar Energy With Agriculture (Text Version)
Farmer-first approach to agrivoltaics will benefit NY food, energy goals | CALS
NYSERDA grants $7 million to co-locate solar and agriculture throughout New York
Alaska Tests a Theory: Solar Farms Help Nearby Crops Grow
As Federal Support for On-Farm Solar Declines, Is Community Agrivoltaics the Future?
Agrivoltaics: double the farming on a global scale | EnergyTransition.org
Credits
Hosted and produced by Kiana Michaan
Co-produced by Lucy Little
Edited by Maxfield Biggs
Music by Naima Mackrel
For resources, transcripts, and more information about the guests: https://www.climatewithkiana.com/podcast/agrivoltaics-with-savannah-whitfield
Agrivoltaics with Savannah Whitfield
[00:00:00]
Kiana: Welcome to Climate with Kiana, a podcast about climate solutions shared through a framework of joy and justice. I'm your host, Kiana Michaan. A solar and clean energy advocate passionate about just climate action. This season, let's dig deeper into solutions to the climate crisis through inspiring conversations with climate experts who are leading important and innovative work to shape a more just and sustainable world.
Let's cultivate hope and joy by exploring these climate solutions and visioning new possibilities together. In today's conversation, I speak with Savannah Whitfield.
Savannah: Farmers are having a hard time right now with expenses, climate event, and then we have really ambitious clean energy goals. How can those two come together?
Kiana: And that's where I see [00:01:00] agrivoltaics, the American farmland trust. Is predicting that 83% of the solar projects that are going to be built to meet our clean energy goals are going to have to happen on farmland. Savannah is one of the founders of Okovate Sustainable Energy, a black-owned solar company working to empower farmers and communities like integrating agriculture and solar energy through innovative dual use solutions that sustain farmland.
Okovate is a member of the American Council on Renewable Energies. Accelerate program. Savannah and her co-founder, Miles Braxton were named as part of the 2025 Forbes 30 under 30 in energy. In our conversation, we discuss regenerative agriculture, the challenges and benefits of agrivoltaics, electrifying farm operations, community, solar, and more.
Please note this conversation was recorded in 2024. Enjoy our conversation about how agrivolatics is changing the future of solar development.[00:02:00]
Climate with Kiana is brought to you in part by support from the Clean Energy Leadership Institute. Also known as CELI. CELI's goal is to equip emerging leaders with the skills and expertise they need to lead the transition to a clean energy economy. To learn more about CELI's work, to support leadership and drive an equitable decarbonized and resilient energy ecosystem, visit clean energy leaders.org.
Thank you so much for being here, Savannah.
Savannah: Thanks for having me, Kiana. I'm excited to be here. So, I'm Savannah Whitfield. I've worked in the solar industry for the past five years. Uh, I studied engineering in college and quickly realized I wanted to. Have a focus in renewable energy. So I took some Energy Fundamentals classes and, uh, had a professor that worked at NREL that was all about solar.
And so that's when I first got interested in solar basically. But, uh, most recently before [00:03:00] starting Okovate, I worked at Black Bear Energy, which, um, was a startup when I joined, and I got to spend my, my time there learning everything I know about the solar industry. As a startup, I got to wear a lot of different hats and I got to learn all about what makes a project successful and how to push a project forward.
Uh, yeah, and I've always had, um, an entrepreneurial spirit about me. And so I think after Black Bear, I was just ready to do something more, um, on my own. And so started Okovate with Miles. So I founded Society of Black Solar Professionals in the summer of 2020. Um, previously that year I had been working on diversity initiatives at Black Bear and um, yeah, after the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement and just feeling like I wish that [00:04:00] there was more representation of black people in the solar industry, I felt.
Like I wanted to do something. And so that's where the idea for Society of Black Solar Professionals came from. The goal of that org was to increase the representation and also the retention of black people in the industry. So we're very community oriented. Something that has always been important to me and feeling comfortable in spaces is just like having your people, you know, like having the people that you feel like you connect with.
And so we did a lot of social events and, um. Professional development events and that type of thing. And I learned a lot about how to start a business and, uh, build a team and all of those things that I'm definitely using now as we're starting and growing Okovate.
Kiana: With that, I am excited to hear kind of all about Okovate.
Um, for those who don't know what, what is Okovate, what, what is the [00:05:00] company's mission and vision? And I also really love the story behind the name as well. I'd love to hear about that.
Savannah: Yeah, so Okovate is a community solar developer that specializes in dual use projects. So that means that we do agrivoltaic projects with small to medium sized crop farmers where they get to maintain access to their land, they get to maintain their family farming business while also benefiting from, um, getting an additional revenue stream with having solar on their land.
And so our overall vision is to create a world where communities are empowered by local land and they're producing clean energy and their food supplies are not being disrupted, and they're basically just more resilient and empowered to take full use of their land and maintain ownership, access, all of the things that are important to landowners and farmers.
Kiana: What [00:06:00] inspired you to start Okovate? Was it experiences with agrivoltaics projects in your previous role? What was the inspiration to to start this?
Savannah: That's a good question. So I guess going back a bit to my journey in solar and sustainability, I've always been really drawn to. Saving the planet. Like as a kid, I was really into the ocean and dolphins were my favorite animal.
And literally my first email address was like, go green, save the earth@gmail.com or something like that. And um, I also spend a lot of time gardening with my mom. Growing up we had a little cute little garden in the backyard and we'd grow carrots, tomatoes. Um, those are the primary things. So we'd kind of switch it out every year.
Um, and so then fast forward to three years ago, I, I took a class at. [00:07:00] UCLA that was about sustainable agriculture and uh, was mostly interested in that just because I thought that I wanted to do a career pivot that was more focused on food systems. But in that class mm-hmm. I learned about Agri Voltaics and I was like, what?
This is so cool. I'm already in solar. I like solar and it's like marrying my love for gardening. Um, my passion for solar and. It's at the intersection of like food systems, which are all things that I was really interested in. Um, so yeah, I think that's where the initial seed was planted. And around that same time, I had met my co-founder, Miles Braxton, and he was one of the other people that knew about agro in.
The us which is kind of rare at the time because it's a very new technology in the US and so we bonded a lot, um, over just talking about how cool we thought agrivoltaics [00:08:00] takes was. And once we both had the bandwidth, the capacity and like, felt like the timing was right. And that happened recently. And so we've been working on it ever since.
Kiana: It is an interesting point you bring up, which is I think, I mean, I think the visibility and awareness of agrivoltaics is growing, but you're right in that a lot of people who know a lot about solar are very involved in in solar projects don't necessarily know a ton about agrivoltaics. What is agrivoltaics?
Savannah: Agrivoltaics is the marrying of solar and active farmland. So at Okovate crop agrivoltaics takes, which means that we have solar panels that are above rows of crops. Um, there is grazing agrivoltaics takes, which means that there are sheep and goats that walk between the solar panels and they maintain the grass. They're basically like living mowers. Um, and then the third type of agrivoltaics is [00:09:00] pollinator systems, which is a field of solar panels that's surrounded by a field of wild flowers and other, um, plants that attract. Pollinators. We with that one, we really try to tap into native ecosystems. Yeah. agrivolatiacs takes dual use solar for people who are like visual, literally just picture solar panels and then crops growing underneath.
We have, uh, special row spacing to make sure that, you know, the, the crop types are getting the, the, the amount of sun that they need, the amount of shade that they need, all of that. Um, but that's, that's what it is. There are three types of agrivoltaics. There are pollinator farms, there are, um, animal grazing, and then there's crop crop farming and Okovate focuses on crop farming.
Right. But yeah, there are multiple types. It's basically just solar with an additional purpose. That's agrivoltaics first, I'll mention that. It's a very tried and true technology. There are [00:10:00] over 14 gigawatts of agrivoltaics that are deployed globally, which is about the size of five Manhattan. So it's like. It is well established, but it's new to the US and that's because, um, other countries have had a higher need for it because they have more limited, um, land.
So, like Japan, for example, is a very small country. They have a high population. They've been doing voltaic since 2004. Um, and that's because they have a lot of farms. They have a lot of rice farms in particular, and they also needed a way to generate clean energy. And so they were like, let's put, put these on top of each other, and it worked Great.
Some of the benefits that people experience with agrivoltaics, uh, I'll start with the farmer perspective or the landowner perspective. So from the financial standpoint, they have the opportunity to. Two, three, even five x their revenue from, um, if they were [00:11:00] to just have, um, their, their normal crop revenue. And so that helps a lot in this time where it's becoming harder and harder to be a farmer because it's expensive and it's more dangerous because of weather events that are disrupting crops.
Um, it's just riskier. And so it's nice to have that additional revenue because it's helping to build resilience. Um. But from an agriculture perspective, we work specifically with crops that are low growth and shade tolerant, and so they actually thrive being in partial shade. We create this, we, we call it our cultivation haven, and it's the little area that's underneath the solar panels and above the soil.
And it, it creates a little microclimate actually that's, um, humid and cool. And it allows for the crops to thrive. It increases soil health. Um, it decreases the demand for water because. [00:12:00] It's, um, increasing soil retention rates with the shade and the microclimate that's being created. And so the, the farmer has the potential to benefit by decreased water bill, decreased energy bill, increased revenue, um, protected crops because, you know, say a tornado or something is coming by, like their, their crops are more likely to survive because they have the shelter of the, of the solar panels.
So there's just like a lot of. Benefits to the farmer, the main one being, hey, we're not disrupting your family business. Uh, and then there are a lot of benefits from the developer side as well. Um, there are 25 plus counties in the US that have active moratoriums on solar, and that's because people are resistant to the fact that these giant solar projects are coming in and disrupting their food systems.
Um, counties have. Just banned solar because they [00:13:00] don't want those disruptions to happen in their community. And so, OK Bay is making development easier by removing that community resistance. So that means, uh, just shorter timelines to get site control. And then once site control is obtained, it means quicker permitting times.
We don't have to do some of the environmental permits that a traditional solar project would do because. We're not rezoning the land. It's staying is agriculture land. Um, after the project is built, the project owner is experiencing lots of savings because they don't have to pay for o and m on the project because the farmer is there maintaining the land.
So yeah, it's benefiting a lot of different people from a lot of different angles. But those are the two that I like to focus on the most because it's like the people. Benefiting from the system, the farmer, and then it's the people that are owning and operating the system. Those are like the basic benefits of agrivoltaics.
Kiana: Agrivoltaics provide a myriad of economic and climate resiliency benefits for [00:14:00] farmers. These benefits include providing shade to crops, pastures, animals, and also reducing heat stress for farm workers. Crop integrated Agrivoltaics can support a wide variety of shade tolerant crops, including leafy greens, brassicas, pumpkins, berries, legumes, hay, and more.
Agrivoltaics eliminates land use conflict between renewables and farmland. These dual use energy systems provide farmers with additional stable income from the solar. Can reduce irrigation needs by up to 40%, increase soil organic matter by up to 60% and decrease crop damage and erosion caused by wind up to 40%.
The solar panels can reduce plant canopy temperature by up to 15 degrees, protecting crops from heat stress, and thus boosting yields and climate resiliency. Each agrivoltaic system must be designed for the specific needs and operations of the farm in mind. Taking [00:15:00] care to have panel spacing, elevation and installation practices that preserve and support farm operations.
The agrivoltaic industry is rapidly growing in the us. There is plenty of research on how to best optimize agrivoltaic systems taking place at universities across the country, including University of Arizona, Cornell University, Rutgers University. Among others. Furthermore, state agencies are creating policy and funding to support the development of agrivoltaics.
For example, NYSERDA New York State's Energy Agency recently awarded over $7 million for the development of agrivoltaics projects throughout the state. And New Jersey also has a pilot program supporting the deployment of agrivoltaics. According to NRL in late 2024, the US had over 600 installed agrivoltaics sites operating, which collectively cover 62,000 acres and produced 10 gigawatts of solar [00:16:00] energy.
The installed capacity of agrivoltaic in the US is projected to keep increasing in the years ahead.
Savannah: Regenerative agriculture is basically focused on reclaiming agriculture in a way that is more in harmony with what's natural. Um, you know, industrial farming became really popular and a lot of farms now have a mono cropp and they're tilling their land every day and their soil, or not every day, every season.
And the soil is very depleted. And agrivoltaics takes can help regenerate land because, uh, the, the soil is. Given a boost, like the, the retention rates are increasing, the water retention rates are increasing, which just makes the soil more capable of absorbing nutrients and holding onto water longer, which is really great for crops.
Uh, Okovate, we have an in-house agronomist who is great and his whole purpose is [00:17:00] making sure that these solar projects that we're building are aligned with. The farmer's values. So if the farmer's like, I want to have regenerative farming, you know, our agronomist will help design a system, whether that be suggesting cover crops or, um, you know, keeping what they're already growing, but just designing it in such a way that it's maybe rotating the crop so the soil isn't as depleted.
Like there are a lot of different solutions. Involta definitely lies in the intersection of regenerative agriculture and farmer values.
Kiana: Yeah, that's. Exciting. Um, and even just like the water savings piece too is so important, especially as we're facing like more water scarcity in many parts of the world.
Could you say a little bit more about the specific pieces of project development that Okovate is focusing on and specializing in?
Savannah: Yeah, [00:18:00] so OK is unique because we are a farmer first developer. We are really. Making sure that their needs are being met and that they're benefiting from these projects. So that means that a lot of our development process is building farmer relationships, we call them.
Mm-hmm. We're going to farmer events, we're understanding what challenges they're facing, and then we come up with a solution that helps them with that challenge. So, for example, I live in California. And there are several cases of farmers, especially up in the north that are making the decision to follow their land, which, which means they're like, uh, I'm not gonna grow anything this season, and instead I'm going to sell my water rights to farmers for their south in California.
Um, but. That brings up their challenge, which is they don't wanna do that. They are farmers and they want to maintain their farming practices. And so [00:19:00] we'll have a solution that is really focused on water preservation. Maybe that's even, um, switching to a crop that requires less water and making it make financial sense for them to keep farming because now they have that added cushion of getting revenue from the, the land lease from the solar.
Um. So that's, that's the one thing I'll say. The beginning stages is all about building relationships with farmer and understanding their buy-in. Um, and then we really, we do work on the project all the way to the very end. Right now, Okovate is an early stage developer, so we are selling these projects at NTP, but even the people that we sell them to, we are then no to supersede.
Yes. Notice to proceed. Um, so when the project is construction ready, we're then selling it to someone who is constructing the project, but we are still involved. They are. Um, coming to us for our agrivoltaics expertise. They are [00:20:00] coming to us to make sure that their construction isn't disrupting the land and we're still protecting the par, the farmer's incentive.
Um, so yeah, if, if I could describe Okovate in one sentence. It's like Farmer first development, um, making sure every practice is aligned with the agricultural needs.
Kiana: Yeah, that, that makes a lot of sense. And I think what you were saying about a lot of it being sort of relationship building with farmers and how you were mentioning before with, um, municipalities that don't want solar voltaics, partially because of maybe lack of understanding of, of some of the benefits or just sort of nimbyism.
Are there any, this is just something I'm, I'm curious about. Are there any issues with having, uh, you know, animals like, such as sheep and high voltage, you know, equipment around them? This might be a, a silly question, but I It was, it was a thought. No, that's.
Savannah: Super real, like are we having [00:21:00] barbecued sheep or something?
Um, and yeah, that's actually not an area I know as much about. I know that that's been a concern and there are solutions surrounding like wire protection and that type of thing that prevent the sheep from being able to like accidentally munch a wire or something. But one of the benefits of grazing agrivolatics is that it.
Is like reducing, uh, fire risk because the vegetation that is around the crops is now being managed because the, the sheeps are having their little snack. And that, that's just like decreasing the risk in general. And there are safety measures in place mm-hmm. That I'd need to learn more about that are preventing the sheep from being able to get to things that they shouldn't be getting to.
Kiana: That makes sense. Yeah. I just, uh, it's just a thought I had.
Savannah: It's a good thought.
Kiana: Another question, um, was I recently was having a, a conversation with someone about, [00:22:00] um. S what happens to land after solar sites are decommissioned, obviously like many years in the future. Um, and I was just curious if you know, particularly because of these are agricultural lands, like when agricul takes are being decommissioned, um, you know, we're talking like 25, 30 years in the future, right?
Like what? What the impacts are on the land, um, in that sort of long term scenario, if you you have any insight on that?
Savannah: Yeah, that's a a great question. You know, 'cause everybody's very focused on like, let's get solar out there. But then what happens in 30 years once the solar is done, right? And there are actually a lot of companies popping up that are focused on like solar panel rejuvenation and solar panel, um, recycling, just because there are so many specific minerals in there.
So. Just on a personal level, I'm really interested in that. But one of the cool things about agrivoltaic compared to a traditional [00:23:00] ground mount solar project is that once, once the solar is done, there's still a farm underneath. And so, um. The idea is that we're, we're leaving the farmer and their family with the tools to continue what they have been doing for decades.
Um, the, the process of decommissioning the project, the process of decommissioning the project, um, will be similar to, um, when it's being built, like making sure our team is there protecting the farmer and their land, um, when the decommission is happening. Um, but yeah, I, I also predict a future where people are like, okay, that was great.
Let's do it again. And so they're just revamping the technology, um mm-hmm. Whether that be installing a new system Yeah. Or making upgrades to the current system to, you know, have more juice come out of it. That's something I'm always [00:24:00] thinking about.
Kiana: Yeah, absolutely. In a similar vein of what are aspects of agro voltaic that are unique to just a traditional ground mount solar system, um, can you tell me about the AI powered robotic harvesting and seeding technology that is used with voltaic?
Because I don't know much about that and I'm, I'm very curious.
Savannah: Yeah, so that. Is new. That is something that we. See on the horizon. Since we are a farmer first organization, we wanna continue empowering farmers and making their day-to-day lives easier. Um, a lot of the farmers that we work with have more manual processes for harvesting, which is why it typically works for them to pair voltaic with their current practices.
You know, in some cases we'll have bigger row spacing and then they can still drive their tractor or something. But yeah, that's a [00:25:00] really new avenue is as everybody knows, like AI is just booming right now, and so everyone's kind of seeing where it's gonna take off and be applicable. Like, okay, here's some agrivoltaics.
And then to cut your operating costs even more, like try out this robotic planter that can. You can tell it how frequently it should drop a seed and at what depth and all of that. Um, so it, it's new. It's new and it's not something that we fully explored, but there's a lot of cool research out there right now.
And so we wanna just be aware of that and are considering it as an offering moving forward.
Kiana: Are, are there farms that are actively using similar technology or is it really much still in development?
Savannah: There are a lot of, um. Pilot farms, like, uh, universities are doing a lot of research projects. Mm-hmm. Um, yeah, I, I think it's CSU in [00:26:00] Fort Collins, Colorado.
They have a little robotic harvesting program and they are seeing if it's scalable. Um, but I, I'm not sure of any examples out in the wild where people are using this yet.
Kiana: Very interesting, curious to see how that develops over time. Also, I'm wondering as farms are, you know, decarbonizing having some clean energy, um, are those.
Are most, I mean, I know a lot of these installations are large scale, are they often just going back out into the grid in terms of the power produced or is it being primarily used for farming operations? Like are we seeing any electrification of farming, uh, equipment such as, you know, tractors and other equipment just that's traditionally, you know, run on fuels?
Savannah: That's a great question and. Yeah, so one of the [00:27:00] reasons why Okovate is a community solar developer is because the energy produced from these, you know, three to five megawatt projects that we are deploying is way more than the farm is actually using. And that's just historically true. And so as a community solar developer, the the farmers that we work with are hosting the.
The solar, but then people in their surrounding community are actually subscribing to it and they're experiencing like the, the 10% discount on their energy and getting it from solar instead of fossil fuels. Um, but on the other part of your question. Yes, there. Every time we go to a clean energy conference, like there are tons of people electrifying everything, electrifying tractors, electrifying, like even just having an EV charging station installed on their land.
Like it's, it's up and coming. And so we definitely anticipate [00:28:00] the agriculture. Energy demand to increase with time. But as we're in this transition period, um, it makes sense to also make sure that, um, residential customers and uh, even commercial customers are able to offtake that energy.
Kiana: So all the projects that you are working on are specifically community solar, but not all agrivoltaics projects are necessarily community solar.
Savannah: Yes. Is that correct? That is, that is correct. Um, and it's, it's mostly correct. We are working on a couple of projects that are not community solar, but that's just our focus area right now. Um mm-hmm. Yeah, but agrivoltaic can be behind the meter, in front of the meter. Um, something that I think about a lot, especially with the AI boom that's happening right now is.
Okay, what, what's powering this? Like the energy required for a data center to [00:29:00] run chat GPT or whatever is crazy. Like it takes a lot of energy. And so strategically looking at where that energy is being used and then seeing like, Hey, is there a farm nearby that could then power this data center? Just creative thinking like that.
Um, 'cause you know, they're. There's a lot of energy demand out there. And so, um, just because it's not always in these rural areas that farmers are in doesn't mean that it's not going to have an impact.
Kiana: Absolutely. I mean, I think just in clean energy work and thinking of the energy transition, everything is so interconnected, even if it's not geographically.
Near each other, right? Yeah. Like the ripple effects are, are significant. Um, and I see the work you're doing as it's contributing to this, this larger clean energy ecosystem that's, you know, transforming our, our systems. It's exciting
Savannah: for sure.
Kiana: I [00:30:00] wanna zoom out a bit. In the beginning you were talking about how the US market is, is much more emerging and we have more developed voltaic markets in other countries.
So I'm curious if. You know, like what countries or regions or have kind of the highest amounts of agrivoltaics or leading, um, and. And what are the factors that have led to that? If you could touch on that a little bit more. Like are there also specific crops in different parts of the world that are used more with agrivoltaics?
Savannah: Yes. That's a great question and I'll touch on Japan again. So like their need for voagrivoltaicsame out of limited space. They got creative and they were like, okay, we're already growing these crops. Let's come up with designs that can. Benefit what we're already growing because we need the energy to be produced too.
So that's, that's just like a great [00:31:00] example of like human innovation, but recently, more recently, um, in Europe, like the Netherlands and Germany and a few other countries. But I'll focus on those two. They are implementing policies that require all. Clean energy projects to be dual use. So they can't just go out and find a random field or like talk to a farmer and be like, Hey, can we buy your land and turn it into a solar farm?
That's not allowed anymore because they understand how precious the resource of sustainable agriculture is. And so, um, it's just flat out required and that's. Actually something that I anticipate happening in the US with time as well. Um, once people continue to learn the benefits of agrivoltaics and also the detriments that are coming from the retiring of agriculture land during a time when our population is increasing really fast.
Um, and it's gonna [00:32:00] become, uh, a requirement too. And so. Yeah, just looking at trends that have happened globally and anticipating what will happen in the US is kind of um, what I am doing right now and like how I think about the transition globally compared to to US deployment.
Kiana: That's super interesting. I didn't know that about the dual use requirements will be exciting to see any developments on that here.
How are you envisioning, the future of agrivoltaics development as part of the larger clean energy transition?
Savannah: Yeah, definitely. Something, something that's really important to me is complex problem solving. Like I firmly believe that nothing exists in a silo like farming and the empowerment of farmers like that, that exists over here.
Farmers are having a hard time right now for all the reasons I already listed, like expenses, [00:33:00] um, climate events, just like all the things that are making it harder to be a farmer right now. And then. We have really ambitious clean energy goals. Um, how can those two come together? And that's where I see agrivoltaics because actually the American Farmland Trust is predicting that 83% of the solar projects that are going to be built to me, our clean energy goals are going to have to happen on farmland.
And so it's like. Let's, let's put these together. I, I think that the future is going to consist of even more intersectional solutions and people working together and collaborating and just helping each other out. Um, and just finding opportunities for innovation that are solving and empowering multiple groups of people.
Like, I think that's the only way that we move forward, and that's something that I'm excited to see grow in the future.
Kiana: Beautifully said, I'm excited to see that [00:34:00] grow as well. Can you say more about the, the pollinator aspect also? 'cause I know we touched on it earlier.
Savannah: So a lot of traditional solar projects underneath will just be like dirt or weeds or just unmaintained grass or something like that.
And so a big initiative that's happening right now is, um. Looking at natural ecosystems that existed before the solar was there or even prior. Um, and bringing in like natural wild flowers, bringing in the things that that ecosystem would've had initially, and just trying to rejuvenate it. Um, so the point of the pollinator aggarwall take systems is just to attract pollinators.
This is really helpful. Um, for community health of, oftentimes if the, the system is in an agriculture community, even just having a pollinator system nearby is really helpful because if the bees are [00:35:00] coming, because they see the wildflowers also gonna go and, you know, spread, um, their pollination at, uh, the.
The actual agriculture sites as well. So yeah, it's kind of like a, a less hands-on version of crop agricul takes, 'cause you, nobody needs to go and harvest, um, harvest things and it's still just like rejuvenating the ecosystem. So that's kind of the intention with the pollinator agrivoltaic systems.
Kiana: The name Okovate, can you talk about.
Where, what the meaning of Oko and the symbolism and story behind you choosing that. That name is
Savannah: oco is a deity in the Yoruba religion. Um, it's really popular in. Nigeria and also Brazil. But in Nigeria, the God is referred to as oco. And um, people pray to him for abundant harvests, um, for good growing seasons, just agriculture abundance in general, [00:36:00] which is what we're all about.
And so, um, that was the inspiration for the name is pairing Oko with vate, like, innovate, cultivate, um, we just liked that ending and we like what it represents. And so that's how we decided on our name.
Kiana: Beautiful. Well, in the spirit of cultivating the energy of harvest and abundance, what is bringing you joy in your work?
Um, you've already kind of shared. What's you're optimistic and hopeful about in the future of voltaics development, which is exciting, but I, I'd love to know what's bringing you joy.
Yes. I, in this
journey?
Savannah: I love that question. 'cause it's easy to get lost in like the day to day and be like, why am I even doing this?
But something that I'm constantly reminded of is the why and I love. People, I believe in people. And Okovate is cool [00:37:00] because yes, we're a former first organization, but that that, like people first mentality also extends to our team and we're growing our team. And um, I'm personally really focused on our business development efforts right now and.
It is just inspiring to work with these really cool people and, um, see what ideas they have for educating the farmer and for implementing this technology. And just like the art of collaborating with people and their cool ideas just makes me so happy and I. I think that's like what wakes me up in the morning to to do my job is like, cool, I get to talk to these cool people on my team and we're gonna solve this problem and we're gonna meet these goals.
And that's just really energizing to me and I definitely keep that at the forefront of. Life, like my personal life, my work, everything. Like it's important for me to feel like I'm a part of a community and then pour, pour into that community. And so that's where [00:38:00] my, my joy is coming from with Okovate and with life.
Kiana: Well, thank you so much for sharing that, and I'm excited to. See where Okovate goes. And also just the expansion of agrivoltaics generally here in the US globally, it seems like there is so much potential there, um, for more, more projects, more pollinators, more crops, and more solar, and more sheep, more so. Thank you so much for your time, Savannah.
I really appreciate it. Yeah,
Savannah: thank you Kiana. This was great.
Kiana: How can people get involved with Okovate? Where can they find you?
Savannah: Yeah, so as I've been talking about, we have kind of two avenues of people that we're working with the farmer and the developer. So, um, if you are a farmer or if you know a farmer, um.
Have them go to Okovate.com and fill out our farmer intake form, uh, to see how you could potentially benefit from vol ticks. It'll take you like two minutes and ask you a few questions, [00:39:00] and from there we can see if, uh, you'd be a good fit to work for us. And if you are a late stage developer that's interested in diversifying your portfolio, um, getting into voltaic, but you don't really know where to start.
Contact us, you can buy some of our projects. We're also providing consulting services that can help assess which of your sites can be good candidates for agrivoltaics. So there's a lot of ways to get involved with us right now. Okovate.com will take you everywhere you need to go and answer all of your questions.
And we're also on LinkedIn. At Okovate, so please connect with me.
Kiana: Thank you for listening. Climate with Kiana is co-produced by Kiana Michaan and Lucy Little. This episode was edited by Maxfield Beggs. Theme music by Naima Mackrel. Thank you again to the Clean Energy Leadership Institute for their support.
This podcast is recorded and produced in New York City on unceded Munsee Lenape Land. If you enjoyed the [00:40:00] episode, please share it with a friend. Leave a comment and subscribe anywhere you listen to podcasts. For more information about the guests and topics discussed, please visit climate with kiana.com. Until the next time, stay joyous.
testing