Agrivoltaics: A win-win for farmers?

The current challenge and potential solution.

The Australian agricultural sector is pursuing the ambitious goals of becoming a $100 billion industry by 2030 and reaching net-zero emissions by 2050, all in the face of mounting challenges such as climate change, including droughts, and the demand for social license and environmental credentials.

 

To reach these goals, transformational innovations at the ‘food, energy and water nexus’ will be required that go beyond incremental change and are distinctively different to our traditional approach. International studies have demonstrated that ‘agrivoltaics’, where food and energy are co-generated on the same area of land rather than competing for land, can boost agricultural productivity, land, and water use efficiencies, and improve soil health.

 

A considerable body of work is currently being conducted in the agrivoltaics space in Europe and the US, with promising results for widely produced crop types prompting very significant further investments (e.g., the US Dept of Energy announced a new US$ 8M programme in Dec 2022, US Department of Energy 2022). In Australia, several trials have tested the integration of solar energy and sheep grazing (‘solar grazing’) on the same area of land with promising results (Clean Energy Council 2021). In contrast to Europe and North America, and aside from the Solar Energy Program led by Agriculture Victoria (partner to the Victoria Drought & Innovation Hub), little emphasis has been placed on the potential benefits of agrivoltaics on crop production systems in Australia (Colby et al. 2022b). The specific conditions of many agricultural production areas in Australia with high light conditions overlayed by water limitations and heat stress periods, promise an even greater co-benefit potential for agrivoltaic applications. Therefore, there is a gap in knowledge about the potential benefits of agrivoltaics on key crop types and industries across Australia.