Energy project finance reference. This educational resource covers project investment and financing concepts. It is separate from Jaken Energy’s commercial electricity and natural gas procurement service; it is not a financing offer or a promise of funding.
Agricultural solar financing and farm operations
Farm solar can serve on-site loads, lease land to a developer or combine generation with agricultural use. These are different investments with different responsibilities and cash flows. Begin with the farm’s operating needs, land control and electrical accounts.
What to evaluate
For a customer-owned system, align production with irrigation, refrigeration, processing or other actual loads. For a land lease, review access, restoration, decommissioning security, mortgage consent and restrictions on farming. An agrivoltaic proposal needs site-specific agronomic evidence; crop compatibility and yield are not guaranteed.
Build a defensible comparison
USDA REAP is a program to investigate for eligible agricultural producers and rural small businesses. Verify the current application window, funding, eligibility and award conditions directly rather than assume a grant is available. Evaluate the project without uncommitted subsidies and obtain current tax advice.
Documents and questions to prepare
- Farm load and land-use requirements
- Ownership or lease responsibilities
- Grid access and production assumptions
- Current USDA and tax documentation
For commercial property owners
Start with the property’s actual accounts, lease responsibilities and plans for ownership or sale. Keep commodity procurement, building improvements and project investment as separate decisions. Include the costs you retain and the savings you retain after tenant reimbursement. An improvement that lowers a tenant-paid expense may benefit tenants without producing the same increase in owner income.
Prepare a base case and a downside case using dated evidence for costs, revenue and funding. Any financing rate, tax benefit or return is a project assumption until supported by current documents. Legal, tax, engineering and lender review should follow the actual transaction.
For the existing property’s supply-cost decision, use the contract-cost calculator or request a property energy review.
Primary sources
Reviewed October 12, 2026. Program rules, tariffs and financing terms should be checked again before a transaction.