Combining agriculture with green energy production could also increase food security and generate additional income for farmers, according to a new study.
The deployment of solar panels and growing crops on the same land could be a solution to boost renewable electricity in Czechia, Hungary, Poland y Slovakiareaching the equivalent to 68% of the countries’ current energy demandaccording to a new study.
A study by the energy think tank Ember argues that combination of electricity and crop productiona practice called agri-PVin just 9% of cropland could meet the electricity needs of agriculture and food processing in the region.
The British NGO suggests that 180 GW of solar panels could be installed on crops in Central European countriestriple the capacity planned for 2030 in the draft national energy plans, and seven times more than the total capacity installed in the countries today.
Con 19% of the EU’s arable areathe so-called Visegrad 4 countries produce a disproportionately large amount of staple crops such as wheat, oats and rye, production that Ember says could be threatened by volatile fertilizer prices, recurrent droughts and extreme weather events.
Food security: the brake on agri-PV
The analysis suggests that, in addition to providing an additional source of income for farmers, Installing solar panels could improve water retention in dry years y protect crops of extreme weather events, in some cases increasing performance.
The report concludes that, in the case of berries or fruits that like shade, aerial agrivoltaics can increase crops by up to 16% and produce 63% of the electricity of a traditional solar installation.
“With Europe increasingly threatened in times of instability, food and energy security is absolutely vital,” says Paweł Czyżak, data analyst and one of the authors of the report.
Czyżak noted that “legislation and supporting frameworks” would be essential to unlock the potential of agrivoltaics, which faces the same grid access difficulties as conventional solar installations, while of the four countries examined, only Czechia has specific regulations for the area.
In France, Germany, Italia and the Netherlandsthe regulations allows sharing of land for agriculture and electricity production without the loss of agricultural subsidiesa fact that has already allowed the deployment of more than 200 agro photovoltaic projects throughout Europe.
In Polanda case study on agrivoltaics and wheat concludes that income per hectare can be twelve times higher to those of wheat crops alone, according to Ember, with a benefit annual potential of 1,268 euros per hectare from the combined sale of electricity and wheat, a stark contrast to traditional wheat production, which is estimated to generate net losses in 2024.
But farmers will have to be convinced. Marion Picot, secretary general of the European Council of Young Farmers (JSCA), based in Brussels, told ‘Euronews’ that the main concern of farmers before the implementation of solar energy is that fertile lands can be dedicated to solar panels without the possibility of farming.
“The photovoltaic solar energy can provide additional sources of income, as long as it does not compromise the economic value, social y environmental of agricultural soils, and prioritizing installation on building roofs or effective combination with agricultural and livestock production,” Picot said.
