(gentle music) - I'm Starla Sampaco in the Crosscut KCTS9 newsroom.
Farms in Central Washington are boosting their yield with solar energy.
Two greenhouse domes on the Colville reservation will house the state's first agrivoltaics project.
Agrivoltaics refers to the mingling of solar power panels with growing crops.
The idea of agrivoltaics first surfaced in 1981 as a proposal that solar panels and agriculture could share the same land to make it more profitable.
The concept took off about 10 to 12 years ago as the cost of solar power dropped.
The new domes are being built in Nespelem, 16 miles north of the Grand Coulee Dam.
At almost 20 feet tall, each dome makes room for about 1,000 square feet of crop space to grow variety of vegetables and flowers spread out horizontally and stacked on shelves vertically.
The project is expected to be ready by July.
I'm Starla Sempaco.
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