Agrivoltaics: Scarce agricultural land makes India’s northeast an ideal region for its application

What is agrivoltaics

Agrivoltaics is the use of the same land to do agriculture and generate electricity by solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. This is a pressing need and offers tons of benefits to its stakeholders and the environment. Land area is limited, and large ground-mounted solar systems need a huge area of land.

Application of this technology can immensely benefit Assam and other states in India’s northeast to combine initiatives of decarbonising power generation and using solar power panels of ground-mounted solar plant as well as providing shades to crops. One megawatt of solar power generation requires 12 bighas of land (7.5 bighas = 1 hectare). Unless agriculture and solar power generation are combined, finding enough land for ground-mounted solar power plant in the region to fully harness the potential of 62 gigawatts solar power in northeast region will remain a distant dream.

Illustration: Pranab Kumar Nath

By the end of 2021, as per International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the cumulative Solar PV installation has grown to 8,49,473 MW globally. Countries in all geographies are deploying more and more solar each year at a much faster rate now. Decarbonising the energy and transport sector becoming increasingly urgent as we are already feeling the heat of climate change. Pollution in some major cities, irregular monsoons or heavy incessant rain creating flash floods, and forest fires in some areas make the places unliveable and disrupted normal life.

At the same time, demand for solar energy is increasing. But finding suitable land to develop commercially viable solar projects becomes increasingly difficult. The conflict between using land to decarbonize the energy sector and agriculture is imminent. We have limited land. Lands that were barren, and unsuitable for agriculture were already used or not feasible for bankable solar projects. As we need more and more solar energy, lands best suited for a solar park are typically used to grow food. To address these concerns, the agriculture and solar sectors are working together to develop an emerging domain that can generate electricity while protecting agricultural production.

Why is agrivoltaics becoming popular

Agrivoltaics is a growing trend as it holds tons of promises.

Providing shades: Rising global average temperatures, unpredictable precipitation, and more frequent extreme weather events such as droughts and hailstorms had an adverse impact on agriculture in recent years. Solar panels at the top can provide shade to crops and reduce evaporation of irrigated water to a large extent.

Shade-providing trees are interplanted in tea gardens in Assam and other tea growing states to keep the temperature below a certain level to maximize tea production. Solar panels on over tea plants could produce cheaper, cleaner energy while also providing the necessary shade. Tea research institutions may use this as a pilot and conduct further research on it for optimization and standardization. Agriculture Universities and Agri research institutes in Northeast India also should take research projects to find suitable local crop varieties under agrivoltaics.

Solar power plant set up at Lalpul in Udalguri district (Photo courtesy : Official Twitter handle of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma)

Improved yield and consistent return

There are certain crops that need shades for better yield. Agrivoltaics help farmers achieve higher and more consistent agricultural yields by providing improved growth conditions.

Reduce water evaporation: One immediate effect of shading provided by the solar panels reduces the evaporation loss of irrigated water. That saves groundwater and pumping costs.

Long-term revenue stream: In agrivoltaics, farmers typically provide their land to solar power developers in long-term leases, typically for 25 years. If a farmer sets up their own solar PV systems, then they can reduce their energy cost as well as earn revenue by selling electricity to the grid. In both ways, it becomes a stable, long-term additional revenue stream for the farmers.

Distributed power for emerging demand: Electric vehicle adoption is increasing. More and more distributed clean electricity will be needed in rural areas to charge these electric vehicles. At least two-wheelers and three-wheelers initially, in rural areas.

Employment generation: Skilled manpower is required to design, install, and maintain this special kind of photovoltaic system for its 25 years of lifetime. That promises employment generation in rural areas.

Therefore, agrivoltaics is a win-win for both the farmers, solar power developers, governments, and society.

How to do agrivoltaics

In India, agrivoltaics is already piloted in various states. Agrivoltaics is commonly done in the following ways:

• Crop cultivation between two rows of ground-mounted photovoltaic panels.
• Farming between and below ground-mounted panels allowing for manual cultivation only.
• Farming below solar panels mounted on an elevated structure so that farm machinery can operate below.

Challenges in adopting agrivoltaics

While agrivoltaics is a perfect solution for multiple stakeholders and the future belongs to it, there are issues to be considered.

Type of Crops and cost of structure

Currently, agrivoltatics support only those crops that need shade, especially in the case of stilt-mounted agrivoltaics. Though research is on to accommodate more and more crops. At the same time, a high steel structure means a heavier structure to withstand the impact of wind on the system. That increases the capital cost of the solar PV system considerably.

Safety aspect

High DC and AC voltage of the solar system is a serious concern for humans as well as animals surrounding the agricultural farm. Additional safety requirements, maintenance, and care will be required, which will be costly and need capacity building.

Policy and regulations:

States in India have different agrivoltaics regulations, which can affect project permits as well as potential financing and investments. Changes in land-use patterns, technical quality standards and benchmarking, and piloting agrivoltaics projects to establish the proof of concept are critical to sensitize the different stakeholders. National and state-wise targets with long-term policy visibility along with financial incentives will create the eco-system to attract investments.

The future of agrivoltaics

There is an urgent need for more and more clean energy now to save our planet from climate change and global warming. As our population is increasing and their income level, the demand for energy will increase at a rapid pace. On top of that, electric vehicles, particularly the two-wheelers and three-wheelers are entering the rural markets. The rural population is perennially facing severe energy access issues. They will need a large amount of reliable clean energy in their places to charge their vehicles in near future.