Agrivoltaics
Agrovoltaica
- Date
- 1981 · confidence medium
- Place
- Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
- Credited to
- Adolf Goetzberger and Armin Zastrow
- Field
- Matter & energy
What it is
Combined use of the same land for solar power generation and farming, with panels raised above or interspersed among crops. It diversifies farm income and improves land-use efficiency, though it competes with plants for light.
The concept was proposed by Goetzberger and Zastrow in 1981 (Fraunhofer ISE); the first practical installations at scale came in Japan and Germany from the 2000s.
What it led to
- diversified income for farming operations
- large-scale installations in arid regions to curb desertification
- dedicated mixed land-use regulations in several countries
Built on
- Photovoltaic panel