Solar panels and farmland, enemies or allies?

Energy transition and food security often seem destined to clash. Every acre covered with solar panels is an acre taken away from agriculture. But there is a third path: agrivoltaics. It rests on the idea that energy production and crop cultivation can coexist on the same land.

In his famous 1957 novel The Baron in the Trees, Italo Calvino tells the story of Cosimo, a young aristocrat who chooses to live in the trees, refusing the world being built beneath him a world that, over centuries, has shaped, carved, and transformed natural landscapes to suit human needs. Nature subjected to humanity, rather than humanity adapting to nature.

More than fifty years after Calvino, this tension has not lost any relevance. On the contrary, it has become more urgent and, in some ways, more paradoxical. Today, in the name of the energy transition (a noble goal, of course), we are witnessing the transformation or destruction of natural systems and agricultural ecosystems to make room for vast photovoltaic installations. The aim is to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and produce renewable energy. That objective is certainly critical. But is it truly worth paying the price in terms of biodiversity and fertile soils?

The question becomes even more pressing when we consider the context in which we live: population growth, climate change, increasingly frequent extreme weather events, soil degradation and more. Global food security is already under strain. Removing farmland to produce energy risks worsening an already fragile situation. The answer, however, does not necessarily lie in choosing one over the other. There is a third way.

Agrivoltaics: When 1 + 1 Can Be Greater Than 2

The concept appears simple: install solar panels above agricultural land, crop fields, orchards, vineyards or pastures at a height that allows crops to continue growing underneath, and with enough spacing to ensure that plants receive sufficient light for photosynthesis. One of the first researchers to systematically formalize this concept was French scientist Christian Dupraz, who in 2011 published a study describing these systems as “agrivoltaic,” a term combining agri (agriculture) and voltaic (photovoltaic).

Figure 1. Agrivoltaic installation at the Pierre-Simon Laplace Institute meteorological observatory, École Polytechnique, Palaiseau (France).

Dupraz’s insight was that competition for light between panels and plants is not necessarily a drawback. If properly managed, it can become a resource.

The reasoning is straightforward: plants do not use 100% of available sunlight for photosynthesis. In many climates, especially during the hottest hours of the day and in summer, excess solar radiation can be stressful, even harmful. Solar panels, by creating areas of partial shade, help form cooler and more humid microclimates at ground level. Temperatures drop, evapotranspiration decreases, and plants use available water more efficiently. In an era of increasingly frequent droughts, that is far from insignificant.

The result appears ideal: agricultural production and energy production on the same surface. Almost like finding a “buy one, get one free” deal at the grocery store.

The Reality Is More Complex

Naturally, reality is never as straightforward as theory. And this is where the complexity of these systems becomes apparent. Plants’ light requirements are not fixed. They vary depending on species, growth stage, soil type, and local climate conditions. A crop that benefits from panel shading in a hot, dry climate might suffer from it in a more temperate, humid environment. The real question is not whether agricultural productivity will be affected—it will—but to what extent, and whether the system’s overall benefits (energy production, water savings, reduced heat stress) can offset any negative impact. Many variables come into play: panel height, tilt angle, spacing between rows, the possibility of dynamically adjusting orientation throughout the day, and crop selection. There is no universal solution. Each configuration must be studied and calibrated to its specific context.

Two Research Pathways

To address these challenges, the scientific community is working on two parallel fronts. On one side, researchers build pilot installations: experimental setups in different locations, with various crops and panel configurations, to observe how the system performs over time. These experiments provide real-world data, but they are expensive, slow, and cannot cover every possible combination of variables. On the other side, researchers develop mathematical models: simplified representations of the physical and biological processes involved. These models allow scientists to simulate how an agrivoltaic installation would perform under different conditions—without physically building it. A robust model makes it possible to quickly explore multiple configurations, identify the most promising ones, and predict both agricultural and energy productivity. The two approaches feed into each other. Data from pilot installations calibrate and validate models, while models guide the design of new experimental systems.

What Comes Next?

Agrivoltaics is a young but rapidly expanding field with enormous potential in which many questions still remain unresolved. Can large-scale installations be planned and evaluated based on regional or continental climate conditions? How do these systems behave when fertilizers and other intensive agronomic practices are introduced? And perhaps most critically: if they work today, will they still function in a world where temperatures rise by 4°C —with the droughts, heat waves, and climate instability that scenario implies?

Practical considerations add another layer of complexity: installation and maintenance costs, regulatory and bureaucratic hurdles, uncertainty around public incentives, aesthetic impacts on landscapes, and effects on wildlife, birds, pollinators, and small mammals that inhabit these areas. All of these issues deserve careful attention and will be explored in future instalments. For now, one thing is clear: agrivoltaics is not a cure-all. But it is a concrete example of how we can pursue smarter solutions—solutions that do not force us to choose between producing food and producing energy, between protecting soil and reducing emissions.

From his tree, Cosimo would likely approve.

Sources

1. Calvino, I. Le Baron perché. Einaudi (1957)
2. Dupraz, C. et al. Combining solar photovoltaic panels and food crops for optimising land use: Towards new agrivoltaic schemes. Renewable Energy, 36(10). doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2011.03.005 (2011)
3. Sarr, A. et al. Agrivoltaic, a Synergistic Co-Location of Agricultural and Energy Production in Perpetual Mutation: A Comprehensive Review. Processes, 11(948). doi.org/10.3390/pr11030948 (2023)