Agrivoltaics across the globe – combining solar power and food production

Over the last two years, Germany’s policy framework has adjusted largely to emerging technologies of using land for both agricultural and solar energy production. A prerequisite of this development is, without doubt, the pre-standard DIN SPEC 91434 which, since April 2021, provides a definition about which criteria agrivoltaics systems must fulfil to assure the primary agricultural use of the land. With this, the standard aims to clearly distinguish between agrivoltaics systems and conventional ground-mounted PV.

According to the DIN SPEC, the agricultural yield after constructing the agrivoltaics system must at least amount to 66% of the reference yield. Land loss after installing the PV system must not exceed 10% of the total project area for category I (overhead systems with a vertical clearance above 2.1 metres) and 15% for category II (interspace systems). Light availability, light homogeneity and water availability must be checked and adapted to the needs of the agricultural products.

Direct payments

Direct payments of the EU for the cultivation of agricultural land do, in monetary terms, not play a mentionable role in most agrivoltaics projects. Nevertheless, uncertainties as to whether payments can be claimed if an agrivoltaics system is built on an area used for agriculture or not caused a mentionable delay for the development of agrivoltaics in Germany in the past.

Since 2023, § 12(5) of the German CAP Direct Payments Regulation (GAPDZV) considers land used for agrivoltaics installations eligible to receive direct payments if (1) the facility does not exclude the cultivation of the area using usual agricultural methods, machines and equipment and if (2) the facility reduces the agriculturally usable area by a maximum of 15% based on the DIN SPEC. If those conditions are fulfilled, as a lump sum, 85% of the area is considered eligible.

Germany’s Renewable Energy Act

As the legal cornerstone of the German energy transition, the Renewable Energy Act (EEG) considers agrivoltaics systems since 2023 on a larger scale. Generally, the main advantages that the EEG grants to renewable energy systems are privileged grid connection, privileged purchase of electricity and the regulation of feed-in tariffs. Agrivoltaics systems benefit from privileged grid connection and privileged purchase of electricity as other renewable energy systems do, too. Regarding tenders for feed-in tariffs, eligible agrivoltaics systems do have access to a much larger area compared to standard ground-mounted systems since the latter are generally excluded from agricultural land. Additionally, in the case of overhead systems (category I DIN SPEC), the EEG provides a premium of 1.2 euro cent per kWh in the event of a surcharge in 2023. In the event of a surcharge in subsequent years, the premium is reduced gradually depending on the year of the surcharge.

Tax alleviations

Until summer 2022, if a photovoltaic system was installed on an agricultural area, landowners faced the risk the area might no longer be assigned to agricultural and forestry property but to thereal estate. Consequently, losing the status of agricultural and forestry property also implied the loss of preferential tax treatments combined with agricultural and forestry property e.g. for inheritance and gift taxation. With a decree in the Federal Tax Gazette for agrivoltaics systems of category I and II DIN SPEC, the area maintains its status as agricultural and forestry property with all involved tax benefits.

Permitting

Regarding building permits, currently, agrivoltaics generally belong to the category of ground-mounted photovoltaic systems. Hence, according to the building regulations law, a building permit is required for their construction in most cases. Typically, an agrivoltaics system will be erected on a plot of land located outside urban areas that is not covered by a development plan. In this case, the BauGB differentiates between privileged and other projects. Privileged projects according to § 35(1) BauGB are only prohibited when they conflict with public interests. In contrast, other projects outside urban areas are generally prohibited according to § 35(2) BauGB if they affect public interests. § 35(3) BauGB lists public interests that are to be considered in this regard. If the project is not permissible outside urban areas according to § 35 BauGB, preparing a development plan – possibly with a partial amendment of the zoning map – should be considered. This, however, can be very time-consuming. Since January 2023, according to § 35 (1) No. 8 BauGB, ground-mounted photovoltaic systems are privileged in a 200m wide strip on both sides of highways and at least double-track railroad lines. With regard to agrivoltaics systems, a privilege according to § 35 (1) No. 1 or No. 2 BauGB is also conceivable in the case of a service function for agriculture or horticulture. Discussions about generally privileging smaller agrivoltaics systems are ongoing.

Authors

Jens Vollprecht is a lawyer at Becker Büttner Held. As lead counsel on renewable energy projects, he focuses on sustainability, agrivoltaics, moorland and floating photovoltaics as well as hydrogen and electricity storage.

Max Trommsdorff is leading the research group for agrivoltaics at Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, Europe’s biggest solar research institute. Since 2014 he has worked on more than 20 agrivoltaics projects.

The potential of agrivoltaics for the US solar industry, farmers and communities

To make agrivoltaics a widely available option for developers in the US, questions about cost, liability and other business, legal and regulatory issues need to be addressed, writes Michele Boyd of the US Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Office.

Large-scale solar energy installations are a relatively new form of development in many rural areas. Solar energy development can create clean energy, jobs and other economic benefits in these communities. At the same time, the conversion of agricultural land, which tends to be flat and sunny, to solar energy development can raise local concerns that delay or derail projects. Agrivoltaics – the co-location of solar energy installations and agriculture beneath or between rows of photovoltaic panels – has the potential to help ease this land-use conflict.

To address climate change, the Biden-Harris administration set a goal to decarbonise the electricity sector by 2035. Solar energy, which currently provides about 4% of US electricity supply, has a key role in this decarbonisation. According to the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Solar Futures Study, solar energy could supply as much as 40% of US electricity by 2035.

This level of solar deployment could require about 5.7 million acres, or 0.3% of the US contiguous land area. While this is a small percentage of US land, it is in addition to other types of infrastructure development that are also leading to the conversion of farmland. Moreover, large-scale solar energy is not going to be evenly distributed across the landscape, because it must be located near transmission lines. Combining agriculture and solar on the same piece of land might be a solution, which is why DOE is funding US$15 million in research on how agrivoltaics could work for farmers, the solar industry and communities.

Agrivoltaics is still a nascent business model. Based on data collected so far by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, there are over 2.8GW of agrivoltaics sites in the US, the majority of which involve sheep grazing and/or pollinator habitat. Growing crops under solar panels has been largely confined to research test plots, though this is beginning to change. At least five commercial solar-crop sites are operating in Colorado, Massachusetts and Maine.

A few states are encouraging the construction of agrivoltaics through incentives or research. Massachusetts has enacted a feed-in tariff adder of US$0.06/kWh for agrivoltaics projects through its Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) programme. New Jersey authorised an agrivoltaics pilot program of up to 200MW on unpreserved farmland and funded a research and development system at the Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station. Colorado has also funded agrivoltaics research.

Agrivoltaics has the potential to help farmers adapt to climate change and diversify their income through land lease payments or other business structures. Research in the drylands of Arizona found that farming under solar panels can decrease evaporation of water from the soil and potentially reduce irrigation requirements. Agrivoltaics can also improve crop yield and crop resistance in extreme weather, such as droughts. Adding farming to existing solar energy sites is being explored as an approach to increase access to land for historically disadvantaged groups, such as Black and immigrant farmers. At the same time, questions remain for farmers about how to do agrivoltaics, including which crops are suitable in a shaded environment.

For the solar industry, agrivoltaics has the potential to facilitate siting of solar installations, improve solar PV panel performance by cooling the panels and lower operations and maintenance costs by limiting the need for mowing. Yet the capital costs of agrivoltaics tend to be higher than traditional solar development due to modified system structures and more complex design and installation. To make agrivoltaics a widely available option for developers, questions about cost, worker safety, liability and other business, legal and regulatory issues will need to be addressed.

For communities, agrivoltaics could help keep farmland in production – and help sustain rural farmland economies. More research is needed, however, to understand whether – and under what conditions – communities are likely to support solar development if it combines both energy and agriculture. All agrivoltaic stakeholder groups – from developers to farmers to financiers and insurers – will need to understand each other’s priorities and establish common goals to realise the potential benefits. Communities will need to see tangible benefits from agrivoltaics.

To help bring agrivoltaics to maturity, DOE’s research is examining how agrivoltaics can impact both agriculture and energy production and how agrivoltaics can fit into agricultural communities and economies, including public perceptions. Our projects, like the AgriSolar Clearinghouse, are providing technical assistance and developing resources to lower the barrier of entry for agricultural producers and solar developers. We are collaborating with the US Department of Agriculture on foundational research to help understand the economic value and tradeoffs and ecological impacts of agrivoltaics projects. DOE is also funding the development of new technologies that could facilitate agrivoltaics and help lower the cost premium.

Agrivoltaics is not a panacea for all farmland conservation or solar development needs, but it is a potential tool in the toolbox for meeting our climate goals, supporting farmers by keeping farmland in production and supporting the economies of rural communities.

Author

Michele Boyd manages the strategic analysis and institutional support team at the US Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office, where she focuses on reducing the soft costs of solar energy. She previously worked at a solar company and on issues related to nuclear weapons and nuclear energy.

Dedicated tenders boost agrivoltaics in France

With France’s rooftop and ground-mount solar tenders featuring a sub-family for agrivoltaics, Xavier Daval of France Agrivoltaïsme details routes to market for new projects.

Despite being the largest country in Europe, France is fully booked when it comes to PV projects and scarcity of land has led to an exponential rise in the price of compatible land. But the so-called compatibility is a tax-based administrative zoning where 52% of the country is farmland, 39% is natural and only the remaining 9% of artificial land is free from constraints for PV development. It is easy to understand that artificial areas, most of the time, are assigned to a primary function such as hosting a building or road.

For many years solar developers have been eyeing up agricultural land, especially when such terrain is no longer cultivated. But urban development code and energy code impose rather strict conditions for construction on farmland. This is where agrivoltaics comes on board.

Well aware of the risks that poor quality PV projects on farmland would represent for the industry, a small group of entrepreneurs decided to join forces to create France Agrivoltaïsme, a dedicated business association solely focused on the topic. By acting as a lobby and being joined by FNSEA, the leading agricultural union, the association has strongly contributed to providing this new technology with a legal framework.

The new bill for the acceleration of renewables, proposed by the French government, was too good an opportunity to introduce an official definition of agrivoltaics: agrivoltaics systems contribute directly to the establishment, maintenance or development of agricultural production. Such a system provides at least one of the following services directly to the agricultural parcel: improvement of potential and agronomic impact, adaptation to climate change, protection from hazards and improvement of animal welfare.

A lot of technical solutions are compliant with the above definition. Raised fixed structures can provide shade, vertical systems can improve grass growth, moving panels can cover trees or plants, deflecting rainwater or acting like a cover to displace the frozen point of the ground, dynamic systems can “listen” to plant’s needs to control the quantity of light or the evapotranspiration of plants.

Of course such new projects have to be financed, and by nature, lenders are rather averse to novelty or risks. But what is an agrivoltaics system but a standard PV plant with a few extra parameters which are easy to frame? With the support of experienced advisors, the projects are rather straightforward to finance as their constraints are largely balanced by their benefits. To name a few, the most demanding crops are the ones impacted by the highest solar yield and the hybridisation of food and energy makes high-grade ESG assets.

France’s first agriPV projects were developed under the umbrella of innovation, with public tenders providing a format to the technology (prior to a legal definition) and establishing first elements of economics (capex-opex). Today, the pioneers of the topic have already a handful of projects built and connected, providing tangible proofs of concept to the banks. New projects no longer need the innovation tender to exist, and both rooftop and ground-mount tenders are now extended with a dedicated sub-family for agrivoltaics projects.

So what are the best route to market options for agrivoltaics? France is still a very centralised country where the ministries want to maintain some control of the energy sector. Therefore, a lot of projects will privilege the contracts for difference auction schemes. But the energy crisis has triggered the awareness of both business and domestic consumers, and the willingness of participating in energy independence, even at a limited level, is growing. To do so, some people are investigating solutions around own-consumption or starting to discuss corporate power purchase agreements. The optimum solution is still not set as the crisis is blurring all provisions of future prices.

The coming year is also the one where France will be voting on its next energy roadmap (PPE), forecasting targets, per energy sources for the next five and 10 years. We at France Agrivoltaïsme are confident that regardless of the results of the discussions, agrivoltaics, because it provides a positive answer to both food and energy challenges, will take the lion’s share of the solar market.

Author

Xavier Daval is the co-founder and administrator of industry association France Agrivoltaïsme, founder and CEO of kiloWattsol and co-chair of the Global Solar Council.

Solar grazing used to reduce project operating costs in Australia

Many companies working in the Australian utility-scale solar sector are exploring opportunities to integrate agricultural production into projects, writes Lucinda Tonge, a senior policy officer at the Clean Energy Council.

Since the mid-2010s, Australia has seen the development of many solar farms, reflecting the sharp fall in the cost of solar PV technology, which is now the lowest-cost form of electricity. As the sector grows, there is increasing interest in exploring and promoting new models for complementary solar energy and agricultural production. This coupling is commonly known as ‘agrisolar’ or ‘agrivoltaics’.

Utility-scale solar (generally considered to be greater than 5MW) typically requires access to relatively flat or gently sloping land in sunny areas within proximity to electricity transmission networks, where biodiversity impacts can be avoided or minimised. This often means that land which has been previously cleared or zoned for agricultural use is well suited to host solar farm developments.

The cumulative risk caused by large-scale solar development to Australian agricultural land and productivity is very low. For example, the Australian Energy Market Operator estimates that New South Wales (NSW) will need approximately 20,000MW of large-scale solar generation to replace coal-fired power stations by 2050. This would require approximately 40,000 hectares of land or only 0.06% of rural land in NSW. Even in the highly unlikely scenario that all of NSW’s solar generation was located on important agricultural land (which covers 13.8% of the state) only 0.4% of this important agricultural land would be required.¹

Regardless, many companies working in the Australian utility-scale solar sector have committed to minimising the impacts on highly productive agricultural land (see the Clean Energy Council’s Best Practice Charter for Renewable Energy Developments) and exploring opportunities to integrate continued agricultural production into projects.

With the deployment of large utility-scale solar farms commencing in Australia from around 2015, the local experience of agrivoltaics practices is still developing and currently dominated by the practice of sheep grazing on solar farms. The first Australian solar farm to implement agrivoltaics practice was the Royalla Solar Farm, which began grazing sheep in 2015. Since then, there have been over a dozen solar farms that have introduced grazing, and it has proved to be an effective partnership for both solar farm proponents and graziers.

‘Solar grazing’, as it is known, is the most prevalent form of complementary land use for utility-scale solar farms due to the compatibility with ground-mounted solar PV panels.

In Australia, we’ve seen solar panels and solar farm fences improve the sheep’s welfare by providing protection from the elements and predators. While these results are generally anecdotal in Australia, one recent Australian study found that the reduced windspeeds recorded within a solar farm could reduce the wind-chill index for newborn lambs. For winter 2022, this had the potential to reduce twin merino lamb average mortality rate from 20% in open paddock to 12% within the panel field. Furthermore, preliminary results from a wool analysis of the sheep at the Parkes Solar Farm indicated that the quality was high, even during drought conditions.²

Ground-mounted solar PV panels are also compatible with biodiversity and bees, as well as some types of horticulture. According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in the US, the partial shade conditions of solar installations can create favourable conditions for plants grown under or around the panels, including creating cooler conditions during the day and warmer conditions at night, and increased soil moisture levels.³ In an Australian context, research has been conducted at Enel Green’s Cohuna Solar Farm by Agriculture Victoria to understand pasture growing conditions under the panels.

Besides ground-mounted solar PV, other forms of agrivoltaics include:

• Elevated PV panels where the panels are raised on stilts or reinforced structures from 2.5-5 metres high to allow for crops and trees to be grown underneath
• PV greenhouses and rooftops, including innovations such as semi-transparent panels
• Floating PV systems which are compatible with acquaculture

At present, these forms of agrivoltaics are typically deployed at a much smaller (i.e. non-utility) scale. This is largely due to the necessity for taller and more complex structures, as well as the larger area of land required and increased equipment costs. One example of a trial using elevated panels in Australia is the Tatura Smart Farm in Victoria, which has grown pears under several long panel arrays.⁴

An agrivoltaics approach may not be suited to all solar farms, but optional support will help more industry players adopt these practices where possible. This not only provides potential co-benefits for both solar and agriculture, but also helps to bring the community along the renewable energy journey that is happening in their local areas.

References

1. NSW Large-Scale Solar Guidelines, Large-Scale Solar Energy Guideline 2022 (amazonaws.com)

2. Trial of sheep grazing under solar panels shows early positive results – ABC News

3. National Renewable Energy Lab InSPIRE, (2020) Suitable Agricultural Activities for Low-Impact-Solar Development. https://openei.org/wiki/InSPIRE/low_impact/agricultural/agricultural_activities

4. Effects of above-canopy photovoltaic arrays on crop yield and fruit quality in a pear orchard – Energy Smart Farming | Energy Smart Farming (extensionaus.com.au)

Investment incentives and knowledge sharing key for agrivoltaics in Africa

With appropriate policy support and investment incentives, agrivoltaics could play a crucial role in Africa’s green energy transition, writes Dr Richard Randle-Boggis of the University of Sheffield.

Agrivoltaics have generated promising results for energy security and food production in Europe, the US and Asia. Yet, the greatest benefits are likely to be found in locations with abundant solar radiation, an urgent need for decentralised energy systems and where water scarcity threatens food systems. Agrivoltaics could therefore play a crucial role in green energy transitions across much of Africa. These conditions here present an unparalleled opportunity for agrivoltaics to deliver sustainable economic benefits.

Electricity demand across Africa is predicted to triple between 2015-2030, yet more than half of the population of Africa still do not have access to electricity. Addressing electrification needs poses several challenges, including a lack of coordinated regulation and financial investment from governments. Given the expansive grid-connection challenges, decentralised solutions are the only option to bring power to unconnected communities in the short term. Previously, PV prices were prohibitively expensive for most people and businesses across Africa, leaving much of the rural population in the dark, but rapidly decreasing costs have resulted in substantial growth in solar developments. The International Energy Agency reports that 71% of investment to achieve universal electricity access around the world by 2030 needs to be spent on off-grid and mini-grid infrastructure, and 95% of that directed at sub-Saharan Africa.

The solar energy sector already employs over 100,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa, and emerging markets require innovative business strategies. There are three broad business models currently used to operate mini-grids: utility owned, community owned, and privately owned, each with various advantages and disadvantages. The model that has achieved the greatest success has been the anchor-business-customer (ABC) model, which supplies power to three different groups of targeted customers: 1) an anchor client, who is ensuring a steady revenue for the developer; 2) small village businesses or institutions with a greater load demand than regular households; and 3) rural household customers. Both the community model and the ABC model could be applied to agrivoltaics, as such systems offer several improvements in community livelihoods.

Mini-grid systems that offer financial benefits beyond those associated solely with electricity access will increase economic benefits and the likelihood of securing finance to cover initial costs. Agrivoltaics do just this, adding an income source via the sale of crops. The sale of higher-value crops in marginalised zones further improves livelihood gains, while the mitigation of environmental challenges reduces risks to farmers’ incomes. Agrivoltaics will also generate new, skilled employment opportunities for agrivoltaics construction, operation and maintenance, especially in rural locations currently lacking modern infrastructure.

Various financial instruments have been used to promote investment in the energy sector. Government bodies have the mandate to pool resources from various sources, such as government funds, investors and development partners, towards renewable energy projects. These government bodies also offer tools to attract investments from the private sector, including partial risk guarantees during the early phase of projects and credit enhancement instruments directed at reducing the risks faced by commercial lenders and other financial institutions. This financial mobilisation for renewable energy initiatives could be used to support agrivoltaics development. However, there are currently no mandates spanning co-use of land for energy and agriculture, so new supporting policy briefs need to be produced.

Knowledge exchange and co-design are essential to appropriately designing and implementing agrivoltaics in Africa. The first key driver in implementing agrivoltaics successfully is capacity building. It is important that the end-users, ranging from multinational agribusinesses to smallholder farmers, have access to information on how agrivoltaics systems work, how they are competitive with alternative solutions and what benefits they can bring. Cross-sectoral dissemination and engagement strategies are also key to realising the benefits of agrivoltaics, which span both the energy and agricultural sectors.

The private sector plays a key role in sustainability innovation, and policymakers should explore ways to improve interactions between the private sector and governments’ climate-smart agriculture programmes. To support investment, it will be necessary to demonstrate the economic competitiveness of agrivoltaics systems compared to conventional ground-mounted PV systems, which are slightly cheaper due to the smaller mounting structures. Metrics such as land equivalent ratio and levelised cost of energy can be used to compare the values of agrivoltaics with alternatives, informing policy reform to support dual use of land for energy and agriculture. To overcome initial implementation barriers, governments could provide incentives to farmers that co-use their land for food and energy production, such as by subsidising development costs. Government- and NGO- backed training and knowledge exchange programmes will also support the expansion of agrivoltaics effectively. With appropriate policy support, investment incentives and knowledge sharing, agrivoltaics could play a vital role in the rapidly growing PV sector and the green energy transition across Africa.

Author

Dr Richard Randle-Boggis is a research associate at the University of Sheffield. His research bridges different sectors and disciplines to tackle complex global challenges such as energy and food insecurity. The overarching question guiding much of his research is: how can we achieve even greater socio-economic and environmental benefits from solar energy initiatives, in addition to low-carbon electricity? His current research focus is on agrivoltaics in East Africa.