We are launching one of my favorite reports ever: on agri-PV.
Agri-PV brings benefits to farmers, strengthening energy and food security, protecting crops and land.
Here's why it's worth unlocking the agri-PV potential: ⏬
▶️ Agri-PV generates electricity but doesn't compromise food production. In fact, it can increase crop yields up to 16%. For cereals or maize, PV systems with wide row spacing guarantee crop yields above 80% of an unshaded field, and support farming machinery
▶️ Agri-PV almost doubles the efficiency of land use. 1 hectare of agri-PV will achieve higher crop yields than a traditional berry plantation and generate 63% of the electricity of a traditional solar farm. Plus still allow CAP subsidies.
▶️ Benefits don't stop: crops are shielded from droughts and extreme weather events, farmers can diversify and stabilize income streams, solar electricity is easier to feed into the grid and achieves higher capture prices and lower curtailment (due to east-west orientation)
▶️ So how much agri-PV can we deploy? In 🇨🇿🇭🇺🇵🇱🇸🇰 alone - 180 GW. 7-times the current solar capacity. 3-times what was promised in the NECPs.
▶️ How did we come up with these numbers? By spatial analysis, modifying the methodology of @EU_ScienceHub and @fz_juelich to account for land and grid constrains or crop shading needs (more in the full report)
▶️ What does this agri-PV capacity translate to? 191 TWh of clean electricity per year. This is equivalent to 68% of current electricity demand in 🇨🇿🇭🇺🇵🇱🇸🇰, 3x their combined renewable electricity generation (73 TWh)
▶️ Despite the benefits and huge potential, why is agri-PV not super popular? Many countries in Europe, including 🇭🇺🇵🇱🇸🇰, still don't have necessary legislation. Why? I think because it's unclear to many that agri-PV preserves food production, not compromises it.
▶️ Hopefully our report can inform agri-PV legislation across Europe. We did the numbers and researched projects across the EU and the globe (Australia, India, China, Canada, USA). You'll find all of it here: ember-climate.org/insights/in-br…
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