Are solar farms a dual-land-use solution?

However, PV farms are space-intensive, conflicting with other land-uses such as agriculture. Agrivoltaics (AV) offers a dual-land-use solution by combining solar energy and crop cultivation. Some pioneering AV production systems have been implemented in practice.

Can Agri-PV combine food and solar energy production on farmland?

While in the past it was a question of either food or solar energy production on farmland, Agri-PV can combine both. This bold application unlocks dual use of cropland by integrating PV modules above the crops, enhancing climate resilience and allowing sustainable food and energy production on one single piece of land.

Could solar energy be a threat to UK food security?

Indeed, REA writes that solar energy would “only take up a tiny fraction of all the UK’s agricultural land”. As of 2022, it occupied less than that taken up by the UK’s gold courses. The bigger threat to UK food security is climate change.

What is agrivoltaics?

Therefore, new systems which enable dual land use are providing a solution to combine renewable energy and food production. Agrivoltaics (AV) aims to achieve an optimized dual land use for solar energy and crops.

Do solar panels have to take out large swathes of farmland?

“Solar panels do not have to take out large swathes of farmland if governments have the foresight to reward or regulate improved land management practices in solar arrays,” adds Byron Kominek, an agrivoltaics consultant and hay farmer based in Boulder, Colorado, US. He adds that the economic benefits of well-planned agrivoltaics are clear.

Are solar power developments transforming land-use?

Solar power developments are playing a role in this land-use transformation: the National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimated in 2019 that a further two million acres of land will be developed into solar fields by 2030.