Study finds ‘significant’ agrivoltaic potential in Austria

“We present, for the first time, a spatially explicit simulation framework that consistently estimates large-scale APV potentials while jointly accounting for electricity generation and agricultural output,” the research team said. “Moreover, we evaluate APV potentials under both current and future climate conditions, thereby assessing the role of APV systems as an adaptation strategy to climate change.”

To conduct the analysis, the researchers developed a modular simulation framework, using established simulation tools where available and custom components where necessary. The framework is publicly available under a GPL license. Using EU data from the policy-integrated climate model EPIC, the team first identified areas suitable for APV deployment. Among the filtering criteria were a minimum of 1 ha of contiguous cropland (independent of ownership), a maximum average slope of 20°, and a maximum altitude of 1,950 m above sea level.

Electricity generation was simulated using PVlib, with global horizontal irradiation (GHI) data derived from a 1 km climate simulation grid. EPIC was used to model key environmental processes and plant growth at plot level, using daily time steps and a spatial resolution of 1 km × 1 km. Crop growth was simulated based on interactions between environmental conditions and management practices such as crop rotation, covering peas, soybeans, potatoes, alfalfa, summer barley, and oats.

Climate inputs were based on observed data from 1981 to 2020, and projections for 2031 to 2070. Two baseline scenarios were evaluated: conventional agricultural production without PV, and ground-mounted PV (GM-PV) systems without agricultural production. APV configurations included overhead stilted systems (S-APV) with an installation height of around 10 m and south-facing orientation, and vertical bifacial systems (VB-APV) featuring 10 m row spacing and two vertically stacked bifacial modules. Each configuration was assessed under low, medium, and high cost assumptions.

In Austria, the results show that GM-PV systems generate 1,173 MWh/ha, S-APV systems 684 MWh/ha, and VB-APV systems 373 MWh/ha. On average, the VB-APV configuration delivers a profit ratio compared to agriculture alone ranging from 10:1 to 50:1, while S-APV systems reach up to 60:1. GM-PV systems show the highest profitability, with ratios of up to 100:1.

“For attaining 90 TWh/y of electricity generation from solar PV on cropland, an upper bound across all climate neutrality scenarios, between 5% and 16% of total cropland area would be required,” the team concluded. “The required area and simulated yield reductions imply that Austrian crop production would decline by 2%–6%. Only agrivoltaic systems achieve impacts at the lower end of this range. Climate change adaptation effects of agrivoltaics are limited.”