Photovoltaic (PV) in Europe is booming: 18.7 gigawatts (GW) of power were newly installed last year. In addition to solar modules on roofs and open spaces, new yield areas need to be tweaked, for example on facades, artificial water surfaces and on fields. In Agri-PV, agricultural land is used simultaneously for food production and solar power generation. Conventional open-air plants can also be a valuable habitat for the flora and fauna, which promotes the acceptance of the plants and the energy transition in general. The world’s leading trade fair for the solar industry, Intersolar Europe, and the accompanying Intersolar Europe Conference informs about new developments and applications of PV. As part of The smarter E Europe, they will take place at Messe München from 21 to 23 July 2021.
The European PV market is growing dynamically: PV output in the European Union (EU) increased by 11 percent last year, according to the trade association SolarPower Europe. 18.7 gigawatts (GW) of power have been reinstalled. This makes 2020 the second best year in the industry, surpassed only by 2011. The strong growth of PV is also reflected in the EU’s overall electricity generation: in 2020, EU renewable electricity generation surpassed that of fossil fuels for the first time, according to Agora’s study “The European Power Sector in 2020” with the British thinktank Ember. Renewable energy accounted for 38 percent of Europe’s electricity mix in 2020, while fossil fuels accounted for 37 percent.
In Germany, by far the largest PV market in the EU, 4.8 GW were added last year and the share of renewable energies in the public net electricity generation, i.e.dem electricity mix that actually comes out of the socket, was over 50 percent in 2020. However, market researchers warn that a gap in Germany’s electricity supply could emerge as early as 2023. Only if the current pace of photovoltaic expansion is doubled from 2021 and tripled from 2022 can security of supply be guaranteed and the climate targets achieved. In order to further advance photovoltaic expansion and to use areas efficiently, solar modules will no longer be installed only on roofs and on open spaces: Modules on facades, agricultural land (Agri-PV) and water surfaces (floating PV) can in future open up even more yield areas and become an additional driver of photovoltaics.
Below photosynthesis, above photovoltaics
Agri-PV uses land for plant and solar power production at the same time. This increases the area efficiency: Solar power production is expanded and at the same time fertile land is preserved and used for agriculture. Photovoltaics and photosynthesis no longer compete with each other, but complement each other. In view of the dynamic global growth of PV and the associated increasing demand for PV systems, innovative concepts such as Agri-PV allow the double use of agricultural land and can thus support the transformation of the energy system.
According to Fraunhofer ISE, Agri-PV technology has developed dynamically in recent years and has spread to almost all regions of the world. The installed Agri-PV capacity increased worldwide from about five megawatts (MW) in 2012 to around 2.9 GW in 2020, with China holding the largest share with approximately 1.9 GW of installed capacity. In times of climate change with increasing drought and extreme weather events, Agri-PV can score points with its multiple benefits: emission-free solar power plus food production plus protection of arable crops from drought damage and weather ingestry such as hail damage or heavy rain. This is because the partial shading of the agricultural land by the installed solar modules reduces the evaporation rate, and they can also replace expensive hail protection nets or foil tunnels.
Shadow of PV systems reduces irrigation requirements
In off-grid areas, Agri-PV can supply electricity for the extraction and reprocessing of water, while at the same time reducing the water requirements of arable crops through shading. This counteracts the trend of desertification and degradation of soil quality. For example, the world’s largest agri-PV plant stands on the edge of the Gobi desert in China: berries are grown under solar modules with a capacity of 700 MW. A preliminary study by Fraunhofer ISE on a site in the Indian state of Maharasthra showed that shading and thus lower evaporation under agri-PV plants could achieve up to 40 percent higher yields for tomatoes and cotton.
Challenges for a broad application of Agri-PV include the higher investment costs compared to conventional PV open-air systems, due to the addition of the modules and a site-specific plant design. According to the guide to the chances of Agri-PV for agriculture and the energy transition of the Fraunhofer-ISE of October 2020, agri-PV with electricity generation costs between 7 and 12 cents per kWh is already competitive with other renewable energy sources: For example, the electricity generation costs of Agri-PV are currently higher than those of conventional open-air systems, but already lower than those of small PV roof systems.
Valuable habitat for wildlife in open-air facilities
Conventional OPEN-air PV systems can also provide valuable habitat for flora and fauna. Extensive and thus gentle care creates and preserves valuable biotopes for plants and insects on the often nutrient-poor soils. This in turn improves the food supply for birds and bats. In order to promote biodiversity in solar parks and thus also increase public acceptance of these plants and the energy transition in general, the interest group “Triesdorfer Biodiversity Strategy – Biodiversity on PV open-air plants” has recently been founded. In addition, the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU) is currently developing certification standards to assess the product quality of renewable amounts of electricity produced in terms of ecological and social criteria.
Agri-PV at Intersolar Europe and the accompanying conference
Intersolar Europe will be providing information on developments, products and applications in the fields of photovoltaics, solar thermal energy, solar power plants as well as grid infrastructure and solutions for the integration of renewable energy at Messe München from 21 to 23 July 2021. Manufacturers, suppliers, dealers and service providers present their products and innovations at the most important industry meeting in the solar industry. At the accompanying Intersolar Europe Conference, experts will inform about the innovative concepts, the associated technologies as well as the experiences and future prospects of the sessions “Agri-Photovoltaics: Harvesting the Sun While Cultivating Crops” and “Vertical Farming and Renewables: The Nexus of Water, Energy, and Food”. This year, Intersolar Europe is supporting the international AgriVoltaics2021 Conference for the first time, thus highlighting the high relevance of the topic.
The online event will take place from 14 to 16 June 2021 and is aimed at all those who want to immerse themselves even more deeply in the world of Agri-PV.
