Beneath more than 2,200 solar panels rising eight feet above the soil at Chatfield Farms in Littleton, rows of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and sunflowers are thriving in the dappled shade cast by Denver’s newest clean-energy installation. The 1.2-megawatt array does double duty: it generates power for the surrounding gardens and schools while shielding crops from the punishing Colorado sun, and every pound of food it produces is given away to families who need it.
The site, known as the Chatfield Farms Solar Garden, sits on three growing acres and is producing hundreds of pounds of produce every week, according to Denver7. Lauren Hazlett, the solar garden’s head grower, told the station that tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers all benefit from a bit of shade in Colorado’s high-intensity sun, and that the elevated panels let farmers plan their workday around when shadows fall across the beds.
“It’s increasing food access for people who don’t have access to it,” Hazlett said, per the same report. All of the food grown at the site — 100% of it — is donated to hunger relief organizations across the Denver metro area, the station notes.
A Living Laboratory Alongside the Crops
The solar garden isn’t just a farm — it’s an active research site. Josie Hart, associate director of sustainable agriculture at Denver Botanic Gardens and the person who oversees the installation, said many crops are actually outperforming their counterparts grown in full sun outdoors, the Denver7 report states. Hart works with the National Lab of the Rockies, which documents how different crops grow under shaded versus non-shaded conditions as part of the broader study of agrivoltaics — the practice of combining solar energy production with farming…