Name: Agustín Carrión García

Occupation: Farmer

Location: Jumilla, Spain

His Solar Story: Harvesting energy from the sun

His Bright Hope: Maintain the circle of life

During childhood, Agustín spent his weekdays at school and worked the family vineyard each weekend. He left Jumilla to go to college and study economics, but after completing his studies, realized his true passion was working the land. He returned to the vineyard, where he’s been ever since.

The difficult economics of running a small family farm inspired Agustín to expand the family business by supplementing grapes with a new crop … apples? No. Wheat? No. Agustín began harvesting electricity from the sun. This expansion was made possible because of Spain’s pioneering incentive program for solar and wind businesses.

Agustín and his family banded together with other farmers—mostly local wine grape growers—to start a solar farm cooperative. The electricity generated from the farm is sold back to the local utility through the cooperative. Their farm is part of a larger solar-power “ecosystem:” Jumilla is also home to one of the world’s largest photovoltaic solar farms, which generates enough energy to power the entire town. “If we all unite our efforts to produce clean energy,” says Agustín, we can end our dependence on fossil fuels, stop carbon being released into the atmosphere, and “maintain the circle of life.”

The cooperation between the farmers has paid off: Today, the solar farm generates enough income to allow Agustín and his family to continue the legacy of his forefathers: sustainable farming practices. “What’s most important to us,” he says, “is to take care of the environment, so we won’t destroy what our fathers and our fathers’ fathers generated, and we can pass on this legacy to our children.”