How much electricity does agricultural photovoltaic generate

What is agrivoltaics?

Most large, ground‐mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) systems are installed on land used only for solar energy production. It’s possible to co-locate solar and agriculture on the same land, which could provide benefits to both the solar and agricultural industries.

How can agrivoltaics improve agricultural production?

Exploring alternate solar system designs and agricultural practices that optimize both energy and agricultural production at co‐located sites may offer opportunities to increase overall value and lower soft costs, or non-hardware costs, of solar energy. Learn more about how soft costs work. Why is Agrivoltaics Important?

How do agrivoltaic systems work?

Agrivoltaics pairs solar with agriculture, creating energy and providing space for crops, grazing, and native habitats under and between panels. NREL studies economic and ecological tradeoffs of agrivoltaic systems.

Could agrivoltaics be a solution?

Combining agriculture and solar on the same piece of land might be a solution, which is why DOE is funding $15 million in research on how agrivoltaics could work for farmers, the solar industry, and communities. Agrivoltaics is still a nascent business model.

How many agrivoltaic projects are there in the United States?

As of March 2023, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory had identified 314 agrivoltaic projects in the United States representing over 2.8GW of solar capacity, of which most were focused on grazing and pollinator habitat, with relatively integrating crop production.

Why do farmers need agrivoltaic systems?

In regions where the land available is scarce it is of special interest to deploy agrivoltaic systems. The combined use of greenhouses to produce food and energy at the same time increases farmers’ income, converting farming into a more attractive sector.