In April 2023, the fourth AgriVoltaics World Conference took place in Daegu, South Korea. Over 300 people attended the conference and presented their research results. Many of the papers focused on an academic approach or small-scale experiments of agrivoltaics.
In Europe, the approach of agrivoltaics is different from country to country:
Italy has decided to support agrivoltaics investments up to 40% for farmers through the PNRR, the country’s Recovery and Resilience Plan.
In early 2023, France has passed a law anchoring the definition of agrivoltaics. Application rules to the law will follow very soon. Some agrivoltaic labels have been defined by AFNOR.
Germany is still in the process of defining how to develop agrivoltaics projects in the country. DIN group has developed a dedicated DIN Spec.
Several other EU Countries have begun the process of implementing agrivoltaics projects, and their strategy is to be defined by the end of 2023 or early 2024.
Nearby, just beyond the European continent, Israel has decided on a plan to build more than a hundred demo plants in the upcoming years to achieve a better understanding of agrivoltaics before deciding upon further developments.
In all countries, farmers are expecting positive results from these new technologies. For most of them, it is a solution against climate change, which has also the positive effect to stabilize farming incomes through complementary revenues coming from land lease.
The European agrivoltaics industry is currently building up project developments as well as construction capacities. New technologies are entering the market. One of the main targets of the continent is to attain food security as well as energy independence. This can only be achieved through a strong development plan of agrivoltaics, driven by European institutions and individual countries.
The goal of AgriVoltaics Industry Forum Europe is to have a pan-European exchange regarding the following key topics:
Legal framework
Economy of business models
Plant acceptance by population as well as social impacts
Practical results of agrivoltaics on large scale plants
Practical results as well as best practices are the main drivers to build up a successful development of the agrivoltaics industry.
We invite all farmers, farming associations, agrivoltaics technologists, project developers, utility companies, and others, who are willing to join us and for an exchange on best practices of agrivoltaics in Europe!
Let us all make the Industry Agrivoltaics Forum Europe 2023 in Strasbourg, the heart of Europe, a successful event for our future, together!
Ronald Knoche
Chairman AgriVoltaics Industry Forum Europe 2023