What Is Agrivoltaics?

Agrivoltaics — also called agri-solar, agrisolar or simply solar farming — is the practice of producing food and solar electricity from the same piece of land at the same time. Instead of choosing between farming and energy, the land does both.

For UK farmers and landowners, agrivoltaics offers a way to diversify income while keeping ground in genuine agricultural use. Done well, it can improve resilience to drought, shelter livestock and provide a stable, weather-independent revenue stream alongside the harvest.

How agrivoltaics works

Solar panels are mounted on raised frames or spaced rows that leave room beneath and between them for crops or grazing animals. The panels generate electricity that is fed to the grid or used on-site, while the land below continues to produce.

The key design challenge is sharing sunlight sensibly. Panels are spaced, tilted or elevated so that enough light reaches the ground for plants or pasture, while still capturing a strong solar yield above.

The main types of agrivoltaic system

There is no single way to build an agrivoltaic site. The right approach depends on what you farm, your climate and your goals.

• Grazing systems — sheep (and sometimes poultry) graze beneath and around standard ground-mounted rows, keeping vegetation down and the land in livestock use.
• Elevated / overhead arrays — panels raised on tall frames so machinery and crops can pass underneath, common for arable and horticulture.
• Spaced-row crop systems — wider gaps between panel rows let combinable or row crops grow between them.
• Horticulture & soft fruit — semi-transparent or carefully spaced panels shelter high-value crops from hail, heat and excess sun.

Benefits for farmers and the land

Beyond the income, well-designed agrivoltaics can bring agronomic advantages. Partial shade reduces water loss in hot spells, panels offer shelter for livestock, and the mix of generation and grazing can support biodiversity through managed margins and wildflower planting.

Crucially, the land stays farmed. That matters for farm identity, for succession, and increasingly for how planning authorities and the public view solar development.