Solar panel food output to rise alongside solar energy

Significance

Agrivoltaics hold out the potential to lessen the competition for land between agriculture and solar power in net-positive ways. Crops help to cool solar panels, boosting their effectiveness. More research is needed on the impact of solar installations on crop yields.

Impacts

• Empowering local stakeholders with the necessary technical knowledge will be key to the long-term sustainability of agrivoltaics systems.
• Harmonising regulatory bodies across agriculture and energy to oversee and coordinate regulation and best practises will pose a challenge.
• Public sector loans and grants to subsidise early capital spending and incentive adoption will be key to widening and accelerating uptake.
• Market forces such as PV panel prices falling will shorten the payback period and improve the business case for agrivoltaic installation.