Agrivoltaics: solar power generation and food production

Abstract/Summary:

Abstract
The energy transition is one of the greatest challenges of our time. While photovoltaics (PVs) became the cheapest technology for generating electricity in many regions, the rising development of ground-mounted PV requires large areas and, hence, competes with other land use forms such as agriculture. Agrivoltaics enables dual use of land for both agriculture and PV power generation considerably increasing land-use efficiency, allowing for an expansion of PV capacity on agricultural land while maintaining farming activities. In recent years, agrivoltaics has experienced a dynamic development mainly driven by Japan, China, France, and Germany. In this chapter, we provide an overview of the current state of agrivoltaics starting with a definition and classification of typical systems.