Why farmers are pairing crops with solar panels (Josh Axelrod, 9/25/26, Deutsche Welle)
The idea for agrivoltaics dates back to 1981, when two German scientists published an article titled “Kartoffeln unter dem Kollektor” (or “Potatoes beneath the collector”). But the first pilot project didn’t begin until 2004 in Japan, a land-constrained country, where there’s particular concern over balancing solar deployment with the protection of farmland.
There are three main types of agrivoltaics: horizontal, where panels look directly up at the sky, vertical, where they’re placed in large rows, perpendicular to the ground, and integrated, often installed atop greenhouses.
Research suggests shade-tolerant crops stand to benefit. That includes berries, grapes and tomatoes — where the panels’ steel framing often doubles as trellises — as well as peaches and peppers.
The panels can also prevent water from fully evaporating, creating a more humid microclimate that benefits the soil — though humidity is a double-edged sword, sometimes introducing plant disease.
Sheep have also proven to be a particularly good match. Compared to cattle or goats, they’re generally easier to manage around solar infrastructure, less likely to damage equipment, and small enough to fit comfortably beneath panels. The practice has other sustainability upsides too: sheep manure fertilizes the soil, and sites require less herbicide.
“If we look at the sheep industry, this has been a real paradigm shift for them, where instead of having to pay to lease land to graze their animals — now they’re actually getting paid to graze,” Kinzer said. “So it completely puts the economics on its head and is a huge opportunity for the sheep industry, which is really struggling in the US pretty much since World War II.”