ITP Video: Mainstreaming Farmer-centric Agrivoltaics [T1S5] скачать в хорошем качестве

ITP Video: Mainstreaming Farmer-centric Agrivoltaics [T1S5]

In simple terms, Agrivoltaics is the co-generation of food and solar energy on the same piece of land. There’s a growing recognition of the opportunities that agrivoltaics offer for India, with several public and private sector players learning from global experiences and investing in field testing alternative designs. While the country is much ahead of much of the developing world, most of the designs tested so far optimize for PV-output, with Agri being an afterthought. This is not surprising because of the huge imbalance between the value of energy and agri output. The current models of agrivoltaics would appeal to farmers with marginal lands who want to get rid of farming. It offers farmers an additional income from land rent and perhaps some free power and in rare cases, possibility of work outside farming. However, there can be another approach to agrivoltaics that maintains better balance between the value of PV and agri. output. This would mimic the high value agriculture practices underneath panels in Europe and Japan and build more stakes for farmers in the success of the enterprise. Such an approach is also likely to appeal more to government initiatives such as PM-KUSUM where the primary focus is on farmer welfare, and not just on expanding solar generation capacity. With support from IKI, IWMI India has partnered with GIZ and Fraunhofer ISE to launch a new initiative on agrivoltaics. This session outlines the mandate of this new initiative and explores opportunities for collaborative research and field action.