Agrivoltaics increases yields, reduces water usage, and boosts rural participation in the renewable energy transition
Key Takeaways:
Agrivoltaics can reduce local opposition to solar projects on farmland and create new income streams across rural stakeholder groups.
Agrivoltaics significantly reduces water usage and increases yields in arid regions.
Agrivoltaics broadens participation in the rural economy, and can contribute meaningfully to both the renewable energy transition and the long-term viability of U.S. agriculture.
With continued research, supportive policy, and adaptive financial models, agrivoltaics has the potential to align farmer needs, developer interests, and community priorities.
Across the United States, energy demand is surging after decades of stagnant growth, due to electrification efforts, data centers, and artificial intelligence. As demand increases, the economics continue to favor wind and solar, which consistently outcompete gas and coal in affordability. As rural communities look to increase renewable energy, a unique opportunity presents itself.
Flat, sunny, easily accessible land that is ideal for solar farms is often already in use for agriculture. A new report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) highlights the opportunity to expand the use of agrivoltaics market to boost generation from renewable energy, decrease water use, and increase yields—providing a win for renewable energy and agricultural communities.
Agrivoltaics—the dual-use integration of solar panels and active farming on the same land—offers a solution that benefits all three core stakeholders. Landowners gain a new, steady revenue stream in a volatile industry while maintaining their land’s agricultural productivity; solar project developers get access to viable sites with fewer permitting battles; and communities retain agricultural land in production while enjoying local investment and tax revenue.
“Agrivoltaics demonstrates that agricultural production and solar development can be complementary rather than competing options for land use,” said Asher Salkin, former research intern at IEEFA and author of the report. “Our research shows that using agrivoltaics in agricultural settings increases crop yields in water-stressed regions, which not only lowers operating costs but also improves soil and ecosystem health.”
Will still not widespread, agrivoltaics installations are expanding, growing from 27,000 acres with 4.5 gigawatts (GW) of capacity in 2020 to more than 62,000 acres and 10 GW in 2024—enough to power 1.5 million homes. With supportive policies, agrivoltaics could help small farmers, meet growing electricity needs, and include more rural communities in the energy transition.
