An international research team has conducted a comprehensive review of the current state of agrivoltaic cropping systems.
“Our work highlights the challenges and barriers from four critical perspectives that are essential for advancing the field: system design, performance, deployment, and research,” corresponding author Pietro Elia Campana told pv magazine. “In addition to outlining these challenges, we recommend specific directions for research to address the current limitations of agrivoltaic systems.”
“We have mapped and classified the potential for agrivoltaic systems on agricultural land worldwide,” added co-author Michele Croci. “For areas classified as ‘Excellent’, we estimate an annual output of roughly 66 PWh to 385 PWh.” He also noted that this potential depends on the type of PV technology and installation density. Furthermore, when accounting for proximity to existing electric grid infrastructure, the short-term deployable potential is estimated at 10 PWh to 59 PWh annually. Africa, the Asia-Pacific region, and Central and South America offer the highest potential for these systems.
Join us on March 5 for the Dual harvest, double trouble: Tackling EPC barriers in agrivoltaics design pv magazine session in English language at KEY – The Energy Transition Expo in Rimini. Experts will share insights on current agrivoltaic technologies, key design choices and the main barriers to standardized, scalable dual‑use projects in Europe and Italy, including region‑specific EPC issues. In the study “Scientific frontiers of agrivoltaic cropping systems,” published in Nature Reviews Clean Technology, the researchers explained that, from a systems design perspective, integrating supporting structures and PV modules into traditional farming practices presents several challenges. These include potential crop yield losses, operational difficulties, risks of damage to PV modules and farming machinery, and the inevitable land loss required for support structures. Addressing these issues will require innovative layouts, PV modules and components tailored for agrivoltaic systems, as well as the identification of crop species and varieties that thrive under different shading conditions and climates. “Such efforts aim to increase the installed peak power per hectare, helping to bridge the gap between agrivoltaic systems and conventional ground-mounted PV systems,” researcher Stefano Amducci said. “Ultimately, this approach seeks to minimize the adverse effects of shading on crops while maximizing land-use efficiency.” From a crop performance perspective, the team highlighted that PV modules influence light, microclimate, and soil conditions, which in turn affect crop-specific physiological responses and yield outcomes. These effects can either enhance or reduce productivity, depending on factors such as shading levels, crop varieties, and local climate conditions. “Some published meta-analyses have attempted to establish simple relationships between shading rates and crop yield across various crop categories, but they have several limitations,”Campana noted. “They often fail to account for key factors such as water availability and are based on limited data. Most agrivoltaic studies have been conducted in regions where water stress does not significantly impact crops. There has been comparatively little research in semi-arid or drought-prone areas, where agrivoltaic systems may outperform open-field cultivation.” From a PV performance perspective, the researchers found that agrivoltaic systems have higher specific investment costs than conventional ground-mounted PV systems, with cost increases typically ranging from 20% to 90%. This is primarily due to the more complex and reinforced mounting structures needed to accommodate agricultural activities. “The added structural components needed to keep agrivoltaic plants compatible with farming operation also increase the environmental impact of agrivoltaic systems by roughly 20% compared to conventional ground-mounted PV systems,” co-author Alessandro Agostini said. “Additionally, when agrivoltaic designs constrain farming productivity because of the shadowing or the reduction of usable area, they may induce land displacement and additional land occupation beyond the site itself, and, under certain conditions, agrivoltaic systems may produce less specific energy than conventional PV systems due to higher soiling rates associated with agricultural activities.” The team also emphasized the benefits of co-locating PV systems and crops, noting that crop selection based on albedo can influence irradiance reflection and PV energy performance. “The microclimate created by PV modules and crops can improve PV efficiency by lowering module operating temperatures through crop transpiration,”Campana explained. “Lower module densities and specific agrivoltaic configurations, such as vertical installations, can reduce solar cell temperatures by up to 10 °C, further boosting efficiency.” “We reviewed current guidelines, standards, regulations, and policies for agrivoltaics from around the world,” researcher Anatoli Chatzipanagi said. “Our analysis shows that accurately predicting system performance prior to installation is critical -particularly in countries with defined crop yield targets such as Italy, France, Germany, and Japan. This, in turn, increases the demand for advanced modelling and simulation tools that can integrate system design, components, shading, ground irradiation, microclimate variations, crop yield, and energy production to achieve overall system design optimisation.” “Advancements in modelling, simulation, and optimization must be complemented by fieldwork,” co-author Jordan Macknick added. “In our paper, we identified at least five limitations in current field studies, including small-scale facilities with non-standard PV designs, a lack of comprehensive databases, insufficient standardized protocols or performance indicators, and short experimental durations.” Finally, the researchers stressed that analyzing the techno-economic, environmental, and social aspects of agrivoltaics, as well as landscape impacts and suitable deployment areas, is critical to guiding policy development. The research team comprised academics from Mälardalen University in Sweden, US National Laboratory of the Rookies (NREL), Italy's Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Saudi Arabia's King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, the University of Science and Technology of China, the EU Joint Research Centre, and the Italian National Agency for New Technologies (ENEA), among others. This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
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