Agrivoltaics: The new no-limit photovoltaics
The Agrivoltics technology has the potential to unleash a chain of double value, for agriculture and fertile land but also for solar energy production: the interaction between the two is fundamental to help not only the energy transition, but also to avoid fertile land to be expropriated for one only purpose. Giancarlo Ghidesi, COO of REM Tec, the leading Agrovoltaico® company in Europe, gives his insights on the technology.
Table of Contents
What is an agrivoltaic system?
The agrivoltaic installation uses the share of the sun irradiation by photovoltaic modules and the agricultural land underneath. This concept derails the conflict between photovoltaic energy production and agricultural production. The basic idea, which motivated the early pioneers of the AGV (Or APV) is to have a minimal impact on the agricultural land used for photovoltaic production and thus leave it available for cultivation. The first experiments related to this technology date back to the early 80s and had to wait until 2011 in Italy to see a concrete and sustainable evolution of the concept, which issued the name Agrovoltaico®.
With the support of incentive tariffs, which do not distinguish between a ground-mounted PV plant and an agrivoltaic plant, in Northern Italy, 6.7 MW of plants were connected in 2011, covering 45 hectares of agricultural land. Under these plants, various crops have been cultivated including corn, rice, wheat, and barley, through classic agricultural means and without changing the methods of cultivation.
In recent years, worldwide interest in this technology has increased and has become the subject of research by several institutions, both public and private. Last year, for example, the European Commission approved Italy’s €1.7 billion Italian State aid scheme under the Recovery and Resilience Facility to support 1.04 GW of agrivoltaic installations by 2026.
In 2018 Professor Stefano Amaducci of the Catholic University of Milan, published the first scientific research on the effects of shading generated by an agrivoltaic system on corn, demonstrating that on a projection of 39 years the maize produces 4.7% more than a cultivation in the open field. Read the paper here.
Case example: Borgo Virgilio
This system can reconcile food production with the supply of energy from renewable sources.
The panels are built on suspended structures, which have mounted axes that hold the photovoltaic panels. These panels rotate thanks to the presence of an engine connected through a wireless communication system.
This type of structure allows the panels to adjust both orientation and inclination in relation to the position of the sun, in order to turn their surface perpendicular to the direction of the sun’s rays. In this way, the panels are able to intercept the largest amount of solar irradiation compared to traditional systems.
At the same time, crop productivity can be stimulated by modifying the inclination of the panel during the different stages of the plant’s life cycle. This is a fundamental feature, thanks to which the system allows the change of the amount of light during the phenological phases considered critical.
For example, this happens during the setting of fruits or ripening, where it might be considered appropriate to increase the amount of light available for the plant. While in the phases not critical to development, it may be more advantageous to favor shading and consequently electricity production. It should be noted that light requirements vary according to the culture, the phenological phase, and the climate.
The advantages of agrivoltaic systems
The panels affect the amount of shade that the soil or crop receives. As a result, two areas are created. The first one is adjacent to the main axis of the panels where the shade is more intense. The second corresponds to the area where the shading occurs only at certain times of the day. Shadow, if handled correctly, has prominent advantages:
- Reduces the amount of water used by the plant.
- Promotes the maintenance of moisture inside the soil.
- Promotes the formation of a microclimate below the panels, in which, external temperatures are mitigated.
- Panels protect crops from extreme weather events.
In addition, below the agrivoltaic systems, unlike the traditional photovoltaic panels, common agricultural practices can be carried on without any constraint.
So, through agrivoltaic systems, the following goals are achieved:
- Recovering part of the abandoned agricultural land allows the achievement of the decarbonization targets.
- Excellent compromise between the production of renewable energy and agriculture.
You can read more about the benefits of agrivoltaic systems in our in-depth piece.
Latest agrivoltaic designs
There are no standards in the design of agrivoltaic systems, only definitions which gets covered in this guide on Italian agrivoltaics, but there may be different types of structures.
The last design of Agrovoltaico® systems allows to increase the specific power production of each tracker by using high density PV modules as well as the power production by using bi-facial modules.
This design increases the flexibility of the shadow management of the system as well as the power production. The consequence is an improvement in the photosynthesis of the crop underneath.
Agrivoltaic deployment around the world
By 2030, according to Legambiente, PV energy must supply at least 60% of the production of energy from non-renewable sources. Reaching a production of 100 TWh, corresponding to an area of panels in the order of 50,000 hectares. However, it is clear that using traditional photovoltaic panels would require the usage of a very large AA (utilized agricultural area). Therefore, the adoption of Agrovoltaico® systems is fundamental to be able to decrease CO2 production and safeguard the planet.
For these reasons, Italy is not the only country where the use of agrivoltaics systems for the production of renewable energy and for the supply of raw materials is promoted.
Agrivoltaics in Europe
In 2020, other nations such as Germany and the Netherlands, began the construction of 5 experimental agrivoltaic plants, where 4 different crops will be tested: blueberry, red currant, strawberries, and blackberries. Germany is planning on using renewables to cover 65% of its power consumption by 2030 this means that new powerful agrivoltaic will need to be built.
Indeed, one of the projects of Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) in Freiburg is an Agrivoltaic plant in Herdwangen-Schönach, around 30 km north of Lake Constance, where a 2,500-square-metre pilot plant has been in operation for three years on the Demeterhof of the Heggelbach farming community.
The solar modules, with an output of 195 kilowatts, generate electricity on five-meter-high steel structures, so that tractors and combined harvesters can easily fit underneath. BayWa r.e. in 2021 announces the completion of its first agrivoltaic plant combined with red currants in the Netherlands. Further agrivoltaic projects are currently being planned in Europe and the rest of the world by 2022.
Agrivoltaics in the US
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has supported the implementation of 25 experiments that include blueberry cultivation in Massachusetts.
NREL forecasts that by 2030, around 3 million acres in the United States to be covered by agrivoltaic systems.
Agrivoltaics in China
Across Asia, agrivoltaic plants are increasingly being installed as part of efforts to reduce CO2 emissions by 2060. China, the world’s largest CO2 emitter, aims to achieve carbon neutrality by then. In 2020, China boosted renewable energy production from agrivoltaic systems by 40 GW. The country’s total renewable energy capacity could potentially double within the next five years.
One of the world’s largest agrivoltaic plants, with a capacity of 2.2 GW, is located in northeastern Qinghai prefecture, second only to India’s Bhadla plant with 2.5 GW. This system enables plant cultivation in a region with minimal precipitation by reducing soil evapotranspiration by 30-40%. Installed at a height of 1.9 meters, the panels allow both plant growth and agricultural maintenance.
In 2016, Panda Green Energy installed an agrivoltaic system on vineyards in Turpan, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and later expanded the project by several tens of MW due to its success. That same year, a 70 MW agrivoltaic system was installed on agricultural and forestry crops in Jiangxi prefecture. In 2017, a 550 kWh Agrovoltaico® system was built in Fuyang, Anhui prefecture. Today, agrivoltaic systems are predominantly found in northeastern China, particularly in Xinjiang, Gansu, and Qinghai.
Agrivoltaics in Japan
Japan was the first country to develop an agrivoltaic system. In 2004, Akira Nagashima developed a removable structure conceptually similar to the Agrovoltaico® system that tested on different crops.
Then, numerous plants have been developed with permanent facilities and with capacities of several MW, the first was built in 2013. In 2017, moreover, 1300 people have been employed, an increase of 13 times in just 4 years.
At the moment, the most important construction project is in the Chiba area. The second in the Shizuoka area and the third in the Gunma area. In the Shiga area, the Japanese company Nisshoku has built an agrivoltaic system with a capacity of 526.4 kWp and has 11 plants in the suburbs of Shiga, Hyogo and Kyoto with a total capacity of 11.1 MW.
In 2018 a 35 MWp plant is installed or on 54 hectares, below the panels there is the cultivation of ginseng, ashitaba and coriander.
Agrivoltaics in South Korea
In 2016, South Korea installed its first 100 kWh agrivoltaic system, initiated by Green Energy Institute Korea in Chungbuk Ochang, cultivating rice, cabbage, ginseng, soybeans, garlic, and other vegetables. By 2030, the South Korean government plans to source 20% of its energy from renewables, up from 5% in 2017.
To support this goal, the Korea Agrivoltaic Association was established in 2019 to promote and develop the agrivoltaic industry. Initially, national laws restricted agrivoltaic systems on hard-to-reach areas or non-arable slopes, but in 2017, these rules were relaxed. The government aims to build 100,000 agrivoltaic systems by 2030.
Prioritizing food over electricity
A theme typical of new technologies is now opening up, namely, to draw up the criteria and rules for a plant to get the agrivoltaic label.
The focal point of this is that the primary factor must be agricultural production, not electricity production. Otherwise, there is an important risk that can result in the growth of agrivoltaics and the profits of the workers, to the detriment of agricultural crops and the territory. For example, Italy has banned solar-PV on farmland, which comes from the fear that solar farms might be impacting food supplies.
In order for the AGV plant to be an added value for agriculture, it is necessary for the plant to be in fact an agricultural machine, which can manage the determining factors for the growth of plants, namely light, water, and temperature.
The scientific research of the companies that first developed the AGV model is oriented in this direction. It’s about creating algorithms that derail, sharing light, and then the apparent conflict between electrical and agricultural production.
A take on the future
In the future, agricultural land will partly feature agrivoltaic systems, where farmers harness solar energy to power machinery and optimize crop growth by adjusting PV panels. However, this clashes with energy producers focused solely on maximizing output. The challenge lies in balancing energy loss with increased agricultural yield and adjusting shading to meet plant needs.
Meanwhile, some companies misuse the agrivoltaic label, installing fixed PV panels on farmland for energy production, leaving little space for agriculture. This mirrors past practices where PV-covered greenhouses in Europe abandoned agriculture in favor of energy production alone
Final thoughts
The goal is for insiders to invest in research while upholding the core principle of Agrovoltaico®: prioritizing agriculture. This challenge is heightened by climate change, and the ongoing health and economic crises. We can no longer afford to create models for their own sake. Today’s reality demands proactive, interconnected solutions. Producing clean energy isn’t enough. We must consider the environmental impact and the footprint of our structures, including their eventual dismantling and land use. Sustainable models like agrivoltaics offer a systemic response, aiming not just to avoid problems but to be part of the solution.