Agricultural PV or agrivoltaics is the use of land for both agriculture and solar power generation. This highly efficient method of generating electricity continues to develop and attract more and more attention. Agrivoltaics is no longer considered a niche solution.
According to Fraunhofer ISE, as early as 2020, there were more than 14 gigawatts (GW) of installed capacity worldwide, with China leading the way. But in Europe, agrivoltaics is also gaining attention. Germany has launched an innovation tender to promote the development of this technology, Italy is planning a major investment, and France has established the world's first association dedicated to promoting agrivoltaics. Driving the standardization process is crucial to the market promotion of this technology.
One of the main advantages of agricultural photovoltaics is that it prevents conflicts in agricultural land use by increasing solar power generation using ground-mounted photovoltaic systems. This can be seen in many European countries. Italy has pledged 1.1 billion euros to promote agricultural photovoltaic technology, including the installation of 2 GW of agricultural photovoltaic capacity.
Meanwhile, France has promoted agricultural photovoltaics through a series of innovative tenders since 2017, launching 48 projects in 2020 alone. Christian Dupraz, a senior researcher at the French National Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), said that most of these projects include tracking systems, which is a major trend in France.
Cowell has tailor-made agrivoltaic solar farm solution. If you need some help for the agri-PV mounting systems, feel free to contact us.