Agrivoltaic Systems for Sustainable Agriculture

Agrivoltaic systems integrate photovoltaic electricity generation with crop cultivation on the same land area, offering a synergistic approach to meet rising demands for both food and clean energy. By raising or spacing solar panels to allow sufficient light penetration, these systems can optimise spectral sharing, microclimatic conditions and water use efficiency. The partial shading provided by panels reduces heat stress and evapotranspiration in arid regions, while crop selection and panel configuration determine overall land productivity and economic viability. Technological innovations such as wavelength‐selective modules aim to transmit photosynthetically active radiation to plants while converting non‐essential wavelengths into electricity. Site‐specific design, including tilt angle, row spacing and mounting height, is critical to balance energy yield and crop performance. Agrivoltaic deployments have demonstrated yield stabilisation under variable weather, enhanced water‐use efficiency and significant gains in dual‐use land productivity. Challenges remain in standardising performance metrics, reducing installation costs and developing tailored agronomic guidelines for diverse cropping systems. With growing interest from policymakers and industry, agrivoltaic systems are emerging as a scalable solution for sustainable land management, rural electrification and climate‐resilient agriculture.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Global mapping of solar potential over agricultural land has shown that croplands offer the highest median solar yield under prevailing microclimates, suggesting that converting less than one per cent of cropland to agrivoltaic use could offset a substantial fraction of global electricity demand. Models incorporating insolation, temperature, wind speed and humidity reveal location‐specific efficiencies that guide optimal siting of agrivoltaic arrays. In parallel, integrated assessment models have estimated that achieving 25–80 per cent solar penetration by mid‐century may require 0.5–5 per cent of land area in key regions, with lifecycle emissions sensitive to land‐use change. These findings underscore the need for coordinated planning to minimise terrestrial carbon losses and support sustainable expansion of agrivoltaic infrastructure.

Agrivoltaic Systems for Sustainable Agriculture publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in agrivoltaic systems for sustainable agriculture across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Agrivoltaic system: A land‐use approach combining photovoltaic electricity generation with crop cultivation on the same parcel.

Daily light integral: The total amount of photosynthetically active radiation received by a plant over a 24-hour period, usually measured in moles of light per square metre.

Levelised cost of electricity (LCOE): The average net present cost of electricity generation per unit of energy produced, accounting for capital, operational and maintenance expenses over a system’s lifetime.

Photosynthetically active radiation: The range of solar radiation wavelengths (400–700 nm) that photosynthetic organisms use for energy conversion.

Microclimate: The localized climate conditions, including temperature, humidity and wind speed, that influence plant growth and photovoltaic performance beneath and around solar arrays.

References

1. Wavelength-selective solar photovoltaic systems to enhance spectral sharing of sunlight in agrivoltaics. Joule (2024).
2. Agrivoltaics, a promising new tool for electricity and food production: A systematic review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews (2024).
3. Agrophotovoltaic systems: applications, challenges, and opportunities. A review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development (2019).
4. Remarkable agrivoltaic influence on soil moisture, micrometeorology and water-use efficiency. PLOS ONE (2018).
5. Implementation of agrophotovoltaics: Techno-economic analysis of the price-performance ratio and its policy implications. Applied Energy (2020).
6. Solar PV Power Potential is Greatest Over Croplands. Scientific Reports (2019).
7. The potential land requirements and related land use change emissions of solar energy. Scientific Reports (2021).