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Agrivoltaics is a relatively new concept of agriculture and photovoltaic power generation on the same area. While an increased land use efficiency and potential synergies between agriculture and power generation speak in favor of agrivoltaics, higher investment cost compared to ground-mounted photovoltaics represents a challenge for a broader market launch in most countries. This work analyses the economic performance of agrivoltaics in apple farming focusing on potential synergies and adverse effects regarding investment requirements and operational cost of the farming system. The analysis is based on literature, expert interviews, and data of three pilot projects in Germany. The results show that average investment cost from the farming system could be reduced by 26% mainly due to partially replacing the hail protection structure. Annual operating costs of the farming system reduce by up to 9% through lower cost for land and maintenance works. However, annual revenues also decrease by about 9% due to an expected reduction in high quality apple yield. Overall, the cost of apple production decreases by about 5%. Regarding the total cost of agrivoltaics, though, the potential contribution from cost savings in the farming sector to reduce the cost of electricity only amounts to <1%. The expected Land Equivalent Ratio of the analyzed agrivoltaic system amounts to 1.54. The results indicate that agrivoltaics in orcharding is only economically feasible if the regulatory framework provides sufficiently high feed-in tariffs or comparable support payments. The work also shows that the theoretical potential of agrivoltaics in apple farming in Germany amounts to 23.8 GWp which could contribute to 13% of the PV development required to meet Germany's climate goals by 2030 [1]. • Agrivoltaics can significantly reduce investment cost of an apple farming system. • Main driver of the cost reduction the partial substitution of the hail net system. • These cost savings are not enough to significantly reduce the overall cost of the agrivoltaic system. • The theoretical potential of agrivoltaics in apple farming in Germany amounts to 23.8 GWp. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Combining agriculture and photovoltaics on the same land area gains in attention and political support in a growing number of countries accompanied by notable research activities in France, USA and Korea, amongst others. This study assesses the technical feasibility of agrivoltaic (APV), while it gives insights on how to design an APV system. Furthermore, it analyses the electrical yield and the behavior and productivity of four crops grown in Germany's largest agrivoltaic research facility installed in 2016 near Lake Constance within the research project APV-RESOLA by Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE. The German design differs from most other agrivoltaic approaches by allowing for a wide range of machine employment, facilitated by a vertical clearance of 5 m and a width clearance of up to 19 m. Crops cultivated under the APV system and on the reference field under a crop rotation scheme include potato, celeriac, clover grass and winter wheat. The land use efficiency measured by the Land Equivalent Ratio (LER) indicated a rise between 56% and 70% in 2017 while the dry and hot summer in 2018 demonstrated that the agrivoltaic system could increase land productivity by nearly 90%. Radiation simulations showed that deviating from full south by around 30° resulted in equal distribution of radiation on ground level, representing the basis for the agrivoltaic design. Considering climate change and increasing land scarcity, our overall results suggest a high potential of agrivoltaics as a viable and efficient technology to address major challenges of the 21rst century. • Light distribution under the APV system simulated by Radiance software tool. • Assessment of different system orientations on the light availability. • The effect of different row distance on the biomass and electrical yield. • The technical feasibility and the design of APV in arable farming. • Promising results of Land Equivalent Ratios for the first two operational years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The demand for food and renewable energy is increasing significantly, whereas the availability of land for agricultural use is declining. Agrivoltaic systems (AVS), which combine agricultural production with solar energy generation on the same area, are a promising opportunity with the potential to satisfy this demand while avoiding land-use conflicts. In the current study, a Consequential Life-Cycle Assessment (CLCA) was conducted to holistically assess the environmental consequences arising from a shift from single-use agriculture to AVS in Germany. The results of the study show that the environmental consequences of the installation of overhead AVS on agricultural land are positive and reduce the impacts in 15 of the 16 analysed impact categories especially for climate change, eutrophication and fossil resource use, as well as in the single score assessment, mainly due to the substitution of the marginal energy mix. It was demonstrated that, under certain conditions, AVS can contribute to the extension of renewable energy production resources without reducing food production resources. These include maintaining the agricultural yields underneath the photovoltaic (PV) modules, seeking synergies between solar energy generation and crop production and minimising the loss of good agricultural land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a combination of agricultural production and solar energy generation, agrivoltaics helps to mitigate land use conflicts. However, this requires the willingness of farmers to adopt the technology, as without them the dissemination of agrivoltaics is not possible. Therefore, the aim of this research was to investigate farmers' willingness to use agrivoltaics. An online survey among German farmers was conducted in February 2023. The dataset consists of 214 farmers. In order to answer the research aim, a factor analysis and a binary logistic regression were undertaken. The results show that 72.4% of the farmers would be willing to use agrivoltaics. The "perceived usefulness" of the technology has the strongest influence, followed by "subjective norm" and "innovativeness" of the farmer. For farmers, the most important function of agrivoltaics is the additional source of income and the future development of the farm. Furthermore, a lack of trust in the technology is not a barrier. The bureaucratic effort and the uncertain regulatory framework are a relevant hurdle, as is the more challenging agricultural processing of the land. Future efforts should focus on addressing these challenges to enable widespread adoption and realize the potential positive impact of agrivoltaics in the agriculture and energy sector. • Perceived usefulness of the technology has the strongest influence. • Important functions of agrivoltaics are additional income and development of the farm. • Barriers to the purchase are bureaucratic effort and uncertain framework conditions. • Lack of trust in the technology is not a relevant barrier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With an uprising trend in cutting agriculture's reliance on fossil fuels because of their limited supply and associated adverse impacts on the environment, the use of infrastructures adapted with alternative energy sources would be of crucial necessity. Among all renewable sources, solar energy has the highest compatibility with agricultural activities. The emergence of photovoltaic (PV) solar energy conversion technology in agriculture diminishes the need for oil-based fuels in this sector, offering a more affordable and sustainable electricity generation technique, and causing a remarkable reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In modern farm activities, the need for electrification has been raised, leading to the creation of a great opportunity for the employment of PV technology in this sector. The current study investigates the integration of PV technology with electric farm tractors and agricultural robots by discussing research works and commercial case studies. The results indicate that two major challenges against the widespread deployment of modern solar-powered electric farm machinery are high initial costs mainly associated with PV modules and battery storage units, along with deficiencies in electricity storage technologies. Due to operating in outdoor conditions, the effect of environmental parameters on the performance of PV modules integrated with agricultural machines including surface temperature, dust accumulation, shading, and air humidity should also be considered. Further technical improvements, cost reductions, and securing government incentives can facilitate the real-world deployment of these sustainable machines. This study is expected to promote the integration of PV technology with modern electric agricultural machinery and to encourage farmers, producers, planners, and decision-makers to employ this technique in mechanized agriculture by giving them an insight into the latest advances along with major challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world population and consequently the global need for food continue to grow. At the same time, areas will be used to generate clean electricity to cope with climate change and global warming. The combination of crop production and solar photovoltaics in the form of "agrivoltaic technology" offers advantages for both sides that provide an adequate, resource-efficient solution to the persistent problem of competition for arable lands. The implementation of agrivoltaic systems has been exponentially increased in recent years and reached the global installed capacity of 2.8 GW in 2020 from the initial capacity of 5 MW in 2012. The agrivoltaic systems installed worldwide mostly employ conventional opaque photovoltaic (PV) modules, causing a change in the microclimate under the panels that become critical when shading ratios are high. Semi-transparent PV (STPV) modules have been recently employed to mitigate this issue which is profoundly studied in this research by considering the use of semi-transparent technologies based on crystalline silicon (c-Si), thin-film photovoltaics, organic PVs (OPVs), dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), concentrating PVs (CPVs), and luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) in open (arable farming lands) and closed (cultivation greenhouses) agrivoltaic systems. The results indicated that c-Si STPV modules have the highest share of employment in agrivoltaic systems due to their extreme benefits of low costs, high stability, and high efficiency in comparison with other technologies, while in contrast, the use of thin-film STPV modules have been rarely reported in the literature. Additionally, STPV modules using OPVs and DSSCs offer the capability to achieve wavelength-selective transparency, causing the photosynthetic active radiation to pass through while the remained spectrum is utilized to generate electricity. Other potential solutions come from CPVs and LSCs, in which, diffuse light is available for the growth of cultivated plants, while direct concentrated sunlight can generate electricity. Although STPV modules are proven as a feasible solution for use in agrivoltaic systems, still more developments are required in terms of the modules' efficiency enhancement and costs reduction, while more detailed research is required to observe the response of cultivated plants to make this technology a viable sustainable solution in the future. • Semi-transparent photovoltaic modules can mitigate shading in agrivoltaic systems. • Thin-film semi-transparent modules are promising for use as roofs of greenhouses. • Dye-sensitizes cells are flexible, lightweight, and can work under diffuse sunlight. • Wavelength selective transparency allows photosynthetic active radiation to pass. • In concentrating photovoltaic, diffuse light is available for the growth of plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world population and consequently the global need for food continue to grow. At the same time, areas will be used to generate clean electricity to cope with climate change and global warming. The combination of crop production and solar photovoltaics in the form of "agrivoltaic technology" offers advantages for both sides that provide an adequate, resource-efficient solution to the persistent problem of competition for arable lands. The implementation of agrivoltaic systems has been exponentially increased in recent years and reached the global installed capacity of 2.8 GW in 2020 from the initial capacity of 5 MW in 2012. The agrivoltaic systems installed worldwide mostly employ conventional opaque photovoltaic (PV) modules, causing a change in the microclimate under the panels that become critical when shading ratios are high. Semi-transparent PV (STPV) modules have been recently employed to mitigate this issue which is profoundly studied in this research by considering the use of semi-transparent technologies based on crystalline silicon (c-Si), thin-film photovoltaics, organic PVs (OPVs), dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), concentrating PVs (CPVs), and luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) in open (arable farming lands) and closed (cultivation greenhouses) agrivoltaic systems. The results indicated that c-Si STPV modules have the highest share of employment in agrivoltaic systems due to their extreme benefits of low costs, high stability, and high efficiency in comparison with other technologies, while in contrast, the use of thin-film STPV modules have been rarely reported in the literature. Additionally, STPV modules using OPVs and DSSCs offer the capability to achieve wavelength-selective transparency, causing the photosynthetic active radiation to pass through while the remained spectrum is utilized to generate electricity. Other potential solutions come from CPVs and LSCs, in which, diffuse light is available for the growth of cultivated plants, while direct concentrated sunlight can generate electricity. Although STPV modules are proven as a feasible solution for use in agrivoltaic systems, still more developments are required in terms of the modules' efficiency enhancement and costs reduction, while more detailed research is required to observe the response of cultivated plants to make this technology a viable sustainable solution in the future. • Semi-transparent photovoltaic modules can mitigate shading in agrivoltaic systems. • Thin-film semi-transparent modules are promising for use as roofs of greenhouses. • Dye-sensitizes cells are flexible, lightweight, and can work under diffuse sunlight. • Wavelength selective transparency allows photosynthetic active radiation to pass. • In concentrating photovoltaic, diffuse light is available for the growth of plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]