Definitions

“Solar and agriculture co-location, also referred to as agrivoltaics, is defined as agricultural production, such as crop or livestock production or pollinator habitats, underneath or between rows of solar panels. In addition to solar energy production, the PV panels can also provide shade and potentially reduce the need for irrigation of the site on which they are located. Most large, ground‐mounted solar PV systems are installed on land used only for solar energy production, making agrivoltaics unique in that it can provide benefits to both the solar and agricultural industries."

Source: Dual-Use Photovoltaic Technologies | Department of Energy

See also Agrivoltaics: Solar and Agriculture Co-Location

“Agrivoltaics is defined as a land use configuration where solar energy generation and sunlight dependent agricultural activities are directly integrated and there is a layer of agricultural productivity within the boundaries of the solar infrastructure. The hallmark characteristic of agrivoltaics is thus the sharing of sunlight between the two energy conversion systems: photovoltaics and photosynthesis. Agricultural activities include practices that satisfy human food, fiber, and fuel needs as well as activities that enhance environmental quality and the natural resource base upon which the agricultural economy depends (adapted from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)) (U.S. Department of Agriculture 2007). To date, agrivoltaics in the United States has included crop production, livestock grazing, apiary management, and other activities that intentionally involve the provision of ecosystem services (e.g., habitat creation, support for beneficial pollinating and predatory insects, native vegetation restoration, or cover cropping for soil health benefits and carbon sequestration).

It is important to note that not all PV installations on farms can be considered agrivoltaics. An essential component of an agrivoltaics system is that the solar and agricultural activities have an influence on each other. Therefore, installing rooftop PV on a barn, where there is no direct impact of the PV system on the vegetation, soil, or livestock, would not be considered an agrivoltaic project. Similarly, conventional ground-mounted solar infrastructure adjacent to agricultural land with no direct vegetation, soil, or livestock integration would not be considered an agrivoltaic project. Moreover, simply using electricity from a solar installation to power farm related activities is not considered agrivoltaics. However, there can still be value in on-farm production and usage of solar energy outside of agrivoltaics. Solar Power Europe has proposed to specifically designate the term agrisolar2 as a broader umbrella term that can encompass agrivoltaics as well as non-agrivoltaic solar energy on agricultural properties.”

Source: The 5 Cs of Agrivoltaic Success Factors in the United States: Lessons from the InSPIRE Research Study, page 3

See also: Agrivoltaics | Solar Market Research and Analysis | NREL 

“Dual-use (sometimes also referred to as co-location), generally involves traditional ground-mounted solar installations that provide other social benefits or host non-agricultural plantings with additional environmental benefits (e.g., flash grazing of sheep as part of planned vegetation management, planting pollinator habitat). While such projects are beneficial, they are not considered agrivoltaic solar. Agrivoltaics specifically describes the production of a farm product, undertaken in an integrated way with a solar array throughout the life of the array. For AFT, all agrivoltaics are dual-use, but not all dual-use is agrivoltaic.”

Source: Recommendations for State and Local Governments to Advance Smart Solar Policy, page 13

Researchers Matthew Sturchio and Alan Knapp "argue that co-prioritizing ecosystem services and energy generation using an ecologically informed, ‘ecovoltaics’ approach to solar array design and operation will have multiple benefits for climate, biodiversity and the restoration of degraded lands."

Source: Sturchio, M.A., Knapp, A.K. Ecovoltaic principles for a more sustainable, ecologically informed solar energy future. Nat Ecol Evol 7, 1746–1749 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02174-x

"Ecosystem service agrivoltaic projects encompass installations that are designed to create or restore habitat, improve soil, and provide other ecosystem services (Walston et al. 2021; Graham et al. 2021; Armstrong, Ostle, and Whitaker 2016; Walston et al. 2018). Ecosystem services can include supporting, provisioning, regulating, and sociocultural services, as shown in Table 1."

"Habitat can support beneficial insects (e.g., pollinators, crop pest predators), birds, reptiles, mammals, or other wildlife species of interest. These sites generally require little modification of traditional utility-scale solar designs, but elevation of panel heights to a sufficient level to allow vegetation establishment of selected beneficial seed mixes is an important determinant of the potential of these sites to provide relevant services."

Source: The 5 Cs of Agrivoltaic Success Factors in the United States: Lessons from the InSPIRE Research Study, pages 5-6