Agrivoltaics Educational Mobile Application

Education | Entertainment | Game

An educational game focused on the emerging concept of agrivoltaics is being developed by Balance Studios in collaboration with a team of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers. The game is designed to inspire future farmers to think differently about solar power by teaching kids about the combination of agricultural production and solar photovoltaics. Unlike other farm simulation games that gamify all aspects of running a farm, this app focuses on the interaction between crops and solar panels, backed by science from the growing niche of research into the effects of solar panel placement on crop growth. 

The game aims to simulate an agrivoltaics operation in Arizona, Colorado, and Illinois scenarios. Players inherit a farm at the start of the game and make decisions about crop selection and solar panel spacing before seeing the resulting output. The app is part of a larger, multi-disciplinary project funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture program, which is interested in evaluating the potential of agrivoltaics to reduce land-use tensions, boost crop yields, and increase revenue for farmers. 

Project image — left
Project image — right

“We are extremely proud of My Agrivoltaic Farm - it is easily on par with any AAA game app you can download, and this has been confirmed on the studies we've run and reactions we've seen from kids all over the country. Various teams from Balance were involved, and at every stage, we worked iteratively and collaboratively. I brag to people in the field not only about the quality of the game - which far exceeds what is possible from academic research groups - but also that we established a pipeline between the work of the scientists into the game data. We literally met to translate findings into models so that players of the game could observe the latest findings interactively and while thoroughly enjoying themselves. The Balance team is extremely flexible and always eager to understand their partners' needs and goals, and this was evident in our project every time we met. I happily look forward to future collaboration and pushing the limits of educational technology with Balance Studios.”

~H Chad Lane,  Associate Department Chair & Professor, Educational Psychology

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