PolySolar: Agrivoltaic polytunnels for on-farm energy and productivity gains – seeking trial partners in Australia

Trials of lighweight flexible solar applied to polytunnels for infield energy generation to facilitate automation. Testing the impact on crop yields and resource use (water, fertiliser, pesticides)

Opportunity for

• Commercial partners, growers and agribusinesses to trial agrivoltaic polytunnel systems
• Research organisations and universities to evaluate crop performance, resource use and system optimisation
• Technology partners (e.g. robotics, irrigation, sensors) requiring reliable in-field energy solutions
• Investors and strategic partners to support Australian deployment and scale-up

Opportunity description

Industry challenge

Agriculture is facing increasing pressure to decarbonise operations while maintaining productivity under rising energy costs, climate variability and resource constraints. Many farming systems, particularly intensive horticulture, require reliable power for irrigation, monitoring, automation and post-harvest handling. However, access to energy in-field remains a challenge, often requiring costly grid upgrades or reliance on fossil fuels.

At the same time, conventional solar installations can compete with productive land use, creating trade-offs between energy generation and agriculture. Growers are also grappling with heat stress, water scarcity and the need to improve yield consistency in changing climates.

Agrivoltaic approaches present an opportunity to address these challenges by integrating energy generation into existing farm infrastructure. By combining renewable energy production with crop cultivation, growers can potentially reduce input costs, improve resource efficiency and enhance growing conditions, while maintaining or increasing yields. 

Current opportunity

Polysolar is seeking partners in Australia to trial and deploy its lightweight, flexible photovoltaic (PV) technology integrated into horticultural polytunnels. The opportunity focuses on collaborative field trials across a range of crops and regions to validate performance under local conditions.

Partners may include growers willing to host trial sites, research organisations to measure impacts on yield, water use and crop health, and agtech providers looking to leverage on-site renewable power for automation, robotics or sensing systems. The system is designed to retrofit onto existing polytunnels, generating electricity directly in-field to support operations without additional land use. A successful collaboration would deliver real-world validation of agrivoltaic systems in Australian contexts, including economic, productivity and sustainability outcomes. For partners, this offers access to a dual-purpose solution that can reduce energy costs, enable precision agriculture technologies and create new revenue or cost-saving opportunities, while improving growing conditions for crops. 

Opportunity background

Polysolar is a UK-based developer of advanced solar technologies, specialising in transparent and flexible photovoltaic systems for agriculture and the built environment. Its agrivoltaic solution integrates lightweight PV panels directly into polytunnel structures, enabling simultaneous crop production and renewable energy generation.

The technology is designed to maintain high light transmission while selectively filtering wavelengths, supporting photosynthesis while reducing heat stress and water loss. Trials have demonstrated that these systems can maintain or improve crop yields, while generating electricity for on-farm use such as irrigation, robotics and electric vehicles. 

Polysolar has conducted trials across the UK, Europe and the Middle East, with projects also underway in Australia, and is now seeking to expand its commercial footprint through new partnerships in the region.

Potential other applications

Beyond horticultural polytunnels, Polysolar’s agrivoltaic technology has potential applications across a range of agricultural and land-use systems. Lightweight, flexible PV systems can be adapted for suspended solar installations over broadacre cropping, enabling dual land use without removing land from production.

The technology is also being applied to controlled environment agriculture, such as greenhouses, where spectrum-selective PV glazing can optimise growing conditions while generating energy. In addition, floating solar systems can be deployed on farm dams and reservoirs, reducing evaporation losses while producing renewable electricity and supporting integrated aquaculture systems.

More broadly, the ability to generate power directly at the point of use creates opportunities for off-grid operations, remote monitoring, electrification of farm equipment and integration with emerging agtech solutions. This positions agrivoltaics as a key enabler of more resilient, energy-efficient and climate-adaptive farming systems.