Agrivoltaic Company Okovate Acquires Stanford University & Carnegie Mellon Tech Startup

Agrivoltaics have been the name of the game in the past few years in the solar power industry. On the surface, it seems simple — find farmland that could benefit from co-location with solar power plants, and then plop some solar panels on areas of the land that seem most suitable for solar without interfering with farming activities. However, as with all things these days, there are more efficient ways to and less efficient ways to plan and develop such projects. Washington, DC–based agrivoltaic company Okovate Sustainable Energy has determined that a modeling platform for this field developed at Stanford University and Carnegie Mellon is exactly what the doctor ordered, and it just acquired the assets of the startup that brought that to the private market — Fundusol.

“This acquisition, supported by Okovate’s backing from The Schmidt Family Foundation, establishes a new frontier for data-driven precision in the co-location of solar energy and agriculture,” the company wrote in a press release published today.

“Okovate is now integrating Fundusol’s proprietary modeling engine—a sophisticated technology stack designed to simulate the complex interactions between solar array architecture and crop phenology—directly into its development pipeline. The acquisition allows Okovate to move beyond traditional development to become a technical data partner for the agricultural community.”

Data, data, data. There have got to be better and worse ways to combine solar tech with different types of farms in different locations and with different geographic attributes. Farmers have been paying close attention to natural conditions for as long as farmers have existed, but using modern technology to plan agrivoltaic system layouts should make a big difference in cost effectiveness and efficiency.

The company adds the following information on how the technology works:

“The Science of Symbiosis The integrated platform utilizes the SIMulated PLant Ecosystem (SIMPLE) crop biomass model to project outcomes for over 60 different crop types. By merging this framework with proprietary irradiance and thermal dynamics models, Okovate provides:

• Genomic Optimization: Utilizing a custom, in-house genetic algorithm to determine the ideal solar array configurations—such as panel spacing, height, and tilt—specifically tailored to the light saturation needs of individual crops.
• Precision Phenology Insights: High-fidelity modeling that projects how specific crops will respond to the microclimates created by solar infrastructure.
• Advanced Data Visualization: Leveraging 3D system representations and digital twins to allow farmers and landowners to visualize optimized farm layouts before construction begins.”

“By acquiring the Fundusol platform, Okovate is delivering on its mission to make agrivoltaics a reliable, data-driven reality for the American farmer,” Miles Braxton, CEO of Okovate, added. “We are building predictive AI tools on top of this genomic modeling engine to translate complex solar engineering into actionable insights for rural farmers. This ensures that we aren’t just building energy projects; we are providing the data-driven clarity needed to strengthen the economic fabric of our farming communities.” AI tools — of course, because you can’t have a tech announcement without AI mentioned in 2025.

Well, anything to increase the cost effectiveness and appeal of solar PV power. This should help to roll out a lot more solar power on farmland across the United States. I look forward to more announcements from the company in 2026.

Images from Okovate