With its roofs and large areas, agriculture has significant photovoltaic potential. If the idea of taking advantage of agricultural buildings to install photovoltaic panels is obvious, the prospect of mixing food and energy production is more intriguing.
Agrivoltaics is based on the idea of combining farming and photovoltaic infrastructure to increase crop yields, reduce water consumption and efficiently produce renewable energy. We can therefore speak of real synergy, and not of simple juxtaposition, between the two productions.
Until summer 2022, photovoltaic structures were excluded from the agricultural zone in Switzerland. The adoption of a new federal law now allows the installation of agrivoltaic infrastructures on agricultural land for research purposes or if they provide an advantage for crops.
Since July 2021, the federal agricultural research station Agroscope has been testing an agrivoltaic project at its Conthey (VS) site. 165m2 innovative translucent solar modules developed by the Swiss start-up Insolight are deployed above raspberry and strawberry crops under shelter. The installation was developed with the aim of replacing and improving the crop protection functions in greenhouses, under plastic tunnels or under anti-hail nets, while producing energy. Photovoltaic panels make it possible to adjust the brightness on crops and thus optimize plant photosynthesis throughout the seasons, while transforming excess light into electricity.
On the same Conthey site, Agroscope tested another innovative solution developed by the start-up Voltiris: under a greenhouse, a device filters the colors of which the light is composed. Those that plants need to develop are transmitted to them. Those they do not need are concentrated on a small photovoltaic module to produce electricity, thus allowing optimal use of the entire light spectrum.
For the Swiss Farmers’ Union (USP), the potential of agrivoltaics is concentrated on special crops (such as berry growing or fruit growing), where photovoltaic installations can bring concrete advantages (reduction in energy requirements). water, plant protection products and fertilizer or protection against extreme weather phenomena). In large crops, crop rotation requirements make an effective combination with solar panels difficult, particularly due to the diversity of machines called upon to work there.
But for the umbrella of the agricultural world, we must ensure that photovoltaic production does not undermine the potential of agricultural areas intended for food production, which are already rare and limited today.
