Energy companies are pursuing innovative approaches to expand clean power generation while building public support, and a growing number of solar firms are investing in dual-purpose operations that combine agricultural activity with solar energy production on the same land. A frequent criticism of solar farms is that dedicating arable land solely to energy generation limits other productive uses — a tension that is intensifying as countries worldwide race to meet ambitious decarbonization targets without compromising food security. Installing solar panels on farmland where agricultural practices continue offers a potential resolution.

While many solar projects are sited on arid, non-arable land that would otherwise remain undeveloped, solar cells generally perform more efficiently in humid rather than dry conditions. However, building solar farms on arable land has historically drawn political opposition and public criticism. Not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) resistance to solar projects remains a significant obstacle to development. Utilizing land already in agricultural use for solar installations can enable clean energy production while addressing many of these concerns.

Agrivoltaics — also referred to as agrophotovoltaics, agri-solar, or agri-PV — have grown in both popularity and scale in recent years as clean energy companies invest in dual-use sites. Solar panels can be mounted above or around land used for crop cultivation or livestock grazing. The concept was first proposed by researchers in the early 1980s, but it is only in the last decade — driven by plunging solar costs and mounting pressure to transition away from fossil fuels — that agrivoltaics has moved from small-scale pilots to commercial deployment.

Dual-use arrangements have gained traction within the farming community because they offer an opportunity to earn supplementary income from land already in agricultural use. Beyond diversifying revenue streams, installing solar photovoltaic systems on farmland can deliver ecological benefits while reducing land-use competition and siting restrictions. Japan, which pioneered large-scale agrivoltaic adoption beginning in the mid-2000s and now hosts over a thousand such installations, has demonstrated that dual-use farming can remain commercially viable — an example informing policy and development in other countries.

Solar panels are positioned to ensure crops receive adequate sunlight while providing shade during the most intense periods of heat and sunshine. They also help reduce water evaporation from the soil. Simultaneously, crops growing beneath the panels release water vapor, which cools the panels from below and improves their operating efficiency. Research from institutions including the University of Arizona and Germany's Fraunhofer Institute has reinforced the viability of this symbiotic arrangement across different crop types and climates.

In California, plans are underway to develop large-scale solar fields across tens of thousands of acres of fallow agricultural land left idle by water shortages. Approximately 70,000 acres of former farmland in the San Joaquin Valley west of Fresno have been forced into idleness by the local water agency. As drought conditions become more frequent in many parts of the world, dual-use projects can help farmers retain their land even when it is no longer productive for traditional agriculture.

The private developer Golden State Clean Energy is collaborating with the water agency and farmers to bring the land into clean energy production. Golden State plans to install up to 21 GW of solar panels and 21 GW of battery storage across 136,000 acres over the next decade under its Valley Clean Infrastructure Plan. Once completed, the project is expected to supply enough clean power for more than 10 million homes. The plan will comprise between 30 and 60 individual projects, with Golden State developing only 5 to 10 percent of the solar farms and leaving the remaining sites available for other investors. The megaproject is anticipated to support California's goal of sourcing 100 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2045.

In Virginia — the data center development capital of the United States, home to the world's largest concentration of data center infrastructure in Northern Virginia — the state government is exploring ways to increase energy production as power demand continues to climb. The surge in electricity consumption driven by cloud computing, artificial intelligence workloads, and digital services has added urgency to the state's renewable energy buildout. In June, Virginia codified a state definition for agrivoltaics to encourage developers to invest in such projects across the state.

A 2020 law requires Virginia's two largest utilities to develop more than 16 GW of land-based renewable energy, predominantly solar power. However, solar developments have faced significant opposition in the state, where they have been blamed for the rapid loss of farmland — even though housing development has contributed substantially more to that trend. As a result, nearly two-thirds of Virginia's counties have outlawed or imposed severe restrictions on large-scale solar projects. Agrivoltaic development on farmland could help meet Virginia's rising energy demand while responding to public concerns about land use.

The growth of agrivoltaics extends beyond the United States. Research by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre has found that agrivoltaics could provide hundreds of gigawatts of solar capacity across Europe while utilizing only a small fraction of the region's agricultural land. Deploying agrivoltaics on roughly 1 percent of Europe's agricultural land could generate hundreds of terawatt-hours of electricity annually without restricting agricultural activity. Germany and France have both moved to establish regulatory frameworks and incentive structures for agrivoltaic projects, and in December, Greece announced plans to develop 130 MW of agrivoltaics across the country.

Developing dual-use land for both agriculture and clean energy production could optimize the use of arable land or provide a productive alternative for idle acreage. It also delivers supplementary income to farmers, many of whom face climate-related threats to their livelihoods. The adoption of agrivoltaics may further help clean energy companies secure public and governmental support for projects on agricultural land, offering a model that other states and nations confronting similar land-use conflicts are likely to watch closely as they scale their own renewable energy ambitions.

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com