Agrivoltaics and landscape change: First evidence from built cases in the Netherlands

The need to advance energy transition has arisen from the global challenge of climate change. Shifts to renewable energy sources, such as solar energy, are crucial for reducing carbon emissions and mitigating climate change. The use of agrivoltaics—the combination of food and renewable energy produc...

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Published in:Land use policy Vol. 140; p. 107099
Main Authors: Sirnik, Igor, Oudes, Dirk, Stremke, Sven
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.05.2024
Subjects:
agricultural landscapes
Agriculture
Agriphotovoltaics
agrivoltaic systems
carbon
climate change
energy
Energy landscape
food production
land policy
Land use
Netherlands
Openness
Renewable energy
solar energy
Netherlands
Openness
Agriculture
Energy landscape
Renewable energy
Agriphotovoltaics
Land use
ISSN:0264-8377, 1873-5754
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The need to advance energy transition has arisen from the global challenge of climate change. Shifts to renewable energy sources, such as solar energy, are crucial for reducing carbon emissions and mitigating climate change. The use of agrivoltaics—the combination of food and renewable energy production with photovoltaic technology—is gaining scientific attention. Agrivoltaics is a type of multifunctional energy landscape and thus reduces land use conflicts between energy and food production. However, while agrivoltaics has begun to proliferate at a global scale, the associated landscape changes have so far received little attention. This knowledge gap is critical, as there is clear evidence that landscape change often contributes to low levels of acceptance of solar power installations. To address this gap, this study examines landscape changes brought by agrivoltaic installations in the Netherlands. Four representative built cases were examined making use of key landscape change indicators extracted from the literature and fieldwork. The study revealed varying degrees of landscape change across the examined cases. Changes in the agricultural landscape pattern and openness emerged as prominent landscape changes. Changes in crop type and in historical linear landscape structures—often associated with the implementation of conventional solar power plants—were not identified. Policy attention to the siting and design of agrivoltaic systems in the landscape is needed to positively influence social acceptance of this relatively novel solution and thereby advance energy transition. •Landscape change analysis of built agrivoltaics in the Netherlands.•Degree of landscape changes showed high variability across cases.•Most landscape changes are related to landscape pattern and openness.•Agrivoltaics may lead to more permanent landscape changes.•Site selection and design criteria are important to direct landscape changes.
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ISSN:0264-8377
1873-5754
DOI:10.1016/j.landusepol.2024.107099