Agrivoltaics

Yashika Energy Systems has partnered Germany’s Next2Sun and Wattkraft India to launch pilot projects, ranging from 100 kWp to 500 kWp, integrating vertical bifacial solar technology with agriculture.

Italy’s Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security (MASE) says it has received 643 bids totaling 1.7 GW in its first agrivoltaic tender. About 56% of the proposals have come from the country’s sunny southern regions.

A new report by CEEW states that India’s unconstrained RE potential exceeds 24 TW (terawatts), but not all of it is achievable. Even reaching the 7 TW required to achieve net-zero emissions by 2070 will require a holistic approach to addressing challenges such as land access, climate risks, land conflicts, and population density.

“Solar manufacturing and technology must be democratized to help developing countries. Empowering the least developed countries and small island developing states should be a top priority,” said prime minister Narendra Modi in his inaugural address at the first International Solar Festival 2024.

A BloombergNEF study estimates India’s energy sector investment and spending under its net-zero scenario at $12.4 trillion over 2024-50, 34% (or about $3 trillion) higher than in the economic transition scenario.

Agrivoltaics, the innovative practice of co-locating agriculture and photovoltaic (PV) systems, is revolutionizing sustainable land use and energy production. By harnessing the synergy between agriculture and solar energy, agrivoltaics offers a transformative solution to address the challenges of food security, water scarcity, and climate change. This article explores the burgeoning agrivoltaics market, its potential benefits, challenges, and future outlook.

Researchers have conducted a field study across two growing seasons, growing different kinds of vegetables under three types of modules with 40%, 5%, and 0% transparency. Their work is the first replicated research experiment that evaluates module transparency in an irrigated vegetable field setting.

The choice between distributed and utility-scale solar often comes down to balancing these benefits based on the specific context, goals, and constraints of a project or region. In the Indian context, a balanced approach that leverages the strengths of both models is essential.

Indian researchers have compared the performance of an agrivoltaic system to monofacial and bifacial rooftop PV systems, and have found that the agrivoltaics setup had a shorter payback time and lower levelized cost of energy. Their analysis of performance considered panel temperature, power output, land equivalent ratio, and reliability.

National Solar Energy Federation of India (NSEFI) expects budget to accelerate renewable energy uptake across MSMEs and hard-to-abate industrial sectors.