This, and the fact that the installation of these systems on open areas is the lowest cost option (Fraunhofer ISE 2015), has also led to PV systems being established on agricultural land. In this context, photovoltaic (PV) systems offer great potential and are considered even more efficient in capturing sunlight energy than photosynthesis (Blankenship et al. The development of renewable energy sources as a means of meeting the global energy demand and simultaneously replacing fossil fuels as one of the key drivers of climate change has become one of the major societal challenges of our time. As such, APV can be a valuable technical approach for more sustainable agriculture, helping to meet current and prospective needs of energy and food production and simultaneously sparing land resources. (4) In addition, APV enhances the economic value of farming and can contribute to decentralized, off-grid electrification in developing and rural areas, thus further improving agricultural productivity. (3) Given the impacts of climate change and conditions in arid climates, potential benefits are likely for crop production through additional shading and observed improvements of water productivity. (2) Through combined energy and crop production, APV can increase land productivity by up to 70%. However, microclimatic heterogeneities and their impact on crop yields are missing reference and thus, remain uncertain. Our main findings are that (1) crop cultivation underneath APV can lead to declining crop yields as solar radiation is expected to be reduced by about one third underneath the panels. In addition, we discuss microclimatic alterations and the resulting impacts of APV on crop production.
In this review, we give a short summary of the current state of the art and prospective opportunities for the application of APV systems. Although this technology has already been applied in various commercial projects, its practicability and impact on crop production have hardly been investigated. In this context, the combination of photovoltaics and plant production - often referred to as agrophotovoltaic (APV) or agrivoltaic systems - has been suggested as an opportunity for the synergistic combination of renewable energy and food production. This has led to increasing competition for limited land resources. At the same time, food security is threatened by the impacts of climate change and a growing world population. However, it requires large areas of land. The expansion of renewable energies aims at meeting the global energy demand while replacing fossil fuels.
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