Photo voltaic know-how can meet UK electrical energy demand with out lowering farmland
by Sophie Jenkins
London, UK (SPX) Mar 10, 2025
New analysis from the College of Sheffield signifies that the UK can obtain its formidable photo voltaic vitality targets with out compromising helpful farmland. The research highlights the potential of agrivoltaics, a system integrating photo voltaic panels with agricultural land use, to generate clear vitality whereas sustaining meals manufacturing.
Authorities plans for a considerable enhance in ground-mounted photo voltaic parks have sparked controversy amongst farmers and the general public, who concern the lack of productive agricultural land. Considerations about meals safety, the financial impression of farmland discount, and the visible transformation of rural landscapes have fueled opposition to large-scale photo voltaic farm enlargement. Nonetheless, the most recent research means that agrivoltaics may alleviate these points by permitting agricultural exercise to proceed alongside photo voltaic vitality technology.
Agrivoltaics includes the strategic set up of photovoltaic panels in configurations that allow crop cultivation and livestock grazing beneath or between them. The research discovered that this method may independently fulfill the UK’s photo voltaic vitality targets whereas stopping land use conflicts.
Professor Sue Hartley, Vice-President for Analysis and Innovation on the College of Sheffield and a co-author of the research, emphasised the importance of this method: “The Authorities and photo voltaic builders have formidable plans for the enlargement of photo voltaic farms however these threat the lack of agricultural land wanted for meals manufacturing at a time when world meals safety is threatened by geopolitical uncertainty and local weather change.
“Agrivoltaic know-how is a possible manner out of this dilemma. It permits us to make use of the identical space of land for each meals and clear vitality manufacturing, addressing a few of the criticism leveled at photo voltaic farms. This know-how is in common use in lots of areas of the world, together with areas like Scandinavia with much less daylight than the UK, however has not but been adopted right here.
“Our analysis identifies the areas within the UK the place this know-how could be most successfully deployed, each to mitigate land use conflicts and ship the UK’s vitality wants.”
The research identifies areas comparable to Cambridgeshire, Essex, Lincolnshire, and the broader East and South East of England as prime areas for agrivoltaics. These areas profit from a mix of flat terrain, energetic agricultural use, robust grid connectivity, and excessive photo voltaic radiation ranges.
A previous analysis challenge led by the College of Sheffield, with an funding of GBP 1.4 million, efficiently applied agrivoltaic techniques in Tanzania and Kenya. These techniques not solely generated low-carbon electrical energy but additionally improved agricultural productiveness and water conservation. Crops comparable to maize, Swiss chard, and beans thrived underneath the partial shade of photo voltaic panels, benefiting from diminished water evaporation and supplemental irrigation by panel-collected rainwater.
The findings from the UK research goal to contribute to land use coverage discussions by selling multifunctional land methods and inspiring additional analysis into home agrivoltaic implementation.
Dr Richard Randle-Boggis, co-author of the research and presently a analysis scientist at SINTEF, famous: “Analysis on agrivoltaics is intensive in mainland Europe, however little or no has been performed within the UK.
“Our subsequent step ought to be area experiments to check the efficiency of the techniques, examine totally different designs with totally different crops, and higher perceive the views of native communities and different stakeholders.
“The lack of farmland is usually a significant motive communities oppose photo voltaic park improvement of their native areas. Our analysis takes a number one step in demonstrating the place photo voltaic parks may very well be developed alongside agricultural actions in order that farmland shouldn’t be misplaced.”
Analysis Report:The spatial potential for agrivoltaics to address energy-agriculture land use conflicts in Great Britain
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