How Agrivoltaics Can Meet the Net-Zero Policy

Out of the various sources of renewable energy, solar photovoltaics (PV), stand as a very strong contender for the generation of low carbon footprint electricity on a large scale using solar power. There have been challenges with adopting PV on a wide scale, one of them being the extensive use of space necessary which competes with agricultural production. The concept of implementing solar panels on top of grazing crops, which was later coined under the term of “agrivoltaics”, represents a very elegant, but until now only scarcely researched solution to this issue of land competition, which simultaneously allows for both the harnessing of solar power and the use of agricultural land via a shared area.

Dr. Chloé Dindault’s project at the National Polytechnic Institute of Bordeaux (Bordeaux INP) will address the dual challenge of enhancing both agricultural and electrical productivity. Her research will focus on organic photovoltaics (OPV), an emerging solar PV technology that offers semi-transparency capabilities allowing for greater coverage without hindering crop growth. She will seek to push OPV as an innovative and viable PV technology that has yet to find its market. Compared to other heavily used materials, such as conventional crystalline silicon (c-Si) PV, which allow for only very little light to reach the crops underneath, OPV has so far hardly been investigated as a technology for agrivoltaics. This comes despite the growing interest in the use of solar power over agricultural land and ever increasing tangible and commercial applications of OPV on buildings, sails and indoors. Dr. Dindault’s project will thus explore the implementation of commercially available OPV panels onto a small-scale greenhouse and monitor its performance both from a power- and crop-growth perspective over one year in the region of Bordeaux, France. Moreover, to ensure a sustainable use of this technology, Dr. Dindault will also explore the development of new low-impact photovoltaic devices made notably of bio-sourced plastic with tailored and optimized semi-transparent properties for greenhouse applications.

This study will be one of the first reports of an OPV-powered greenhouse in the ocean temperate climate, with previous studies only having been carried out in Mediterranean or arid climates. The results of Dr. Dindault’s research will serve as a valuable reference case for the adoption of agrivoltaics in France and beyond. By disseminating these findings to local farmers and organizations, the project will promote the widespread and commercial use of organic agrivoltaics. In view of a just transition to renewable energy sources, this project would also be of significant impact for the agricultural and wider scientific community, through agrivoltaics’ dual role as a stable and efficient generator of energy, and shading system that provides benefits to crop growth. Through further exploration of how solar energy can be optimized, this research project will pave the way for the implementation and evolution of agrivoltaics.

How Agrivoltaics Can Meet the Net-Zero Policy

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