Contributed photo / Tyler Menne, who manages the solar farm near Chattanooga’s Volkswagen plant, uses sheep to help maintain the site and prevent soil erosion.In the shadow of one of the South’s most high-tech auto production plants, a centuries-old, tried-and-true method of caring for the land is underway in Chattanooga.
Since May, a 50-acre tract holding a solar farm that was built to help power Volkswagen’s nearby assembly plant has housed a herd of sheep which keep the grasses trimmed and the soil environmentally healthy.
“They make sure everything is taken care of,” said Tyler Menne, who manages the solar farm’s landscaping for owner Silicon Ranch Corp. “They get in the nooks and crannies.”
Nashville-based Silicon Ranch, one of the largest independent solar power producers in the country, has about 6,000 of 11,000 acres beneath its solar panels under what it terms “regenerative management.”
Chris Ann Lunghino, the company’s director of policy and communications, said the idea was launched about two years ago at a Blakely, Georgia, location and it has expanded.