In mid-May, Spain's solar association Unef, together with Catalan engineering bodies Collegi d'Enginyers Industrials and Collegi d'Enginyers Agrònoms, hosted a conference in Barcelona on agrivoltaics across the Iberian Peninsula. Representatives from public authorities, agricultural associations, banks, technology companies and universities gathered to discuss the role of dual-use solar in the energy transition and in strengthening agricultural resilience.
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Marta Morera, Director General for Energy at the Generalitat de Catalunya, set out the region's position clearly. "Catalonia is committing to agrivoltaics as an efficient way to combine food and energy production," she said. "We are the autonomous community with the most projects submitted to the Renoinn II programme, with 240 MW applied for, which corresponds to half of the capacity currently installed."
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Carlos Montoya, Head of the Solar and Self-Consumption Department at the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE), said that the second Renoinn funding round has attracted applications totalling more than 1 GW across over 200 projects.
Farmers see opportunities for modernisation
Ramon Lletjós, Managing Director of Catalan irrigation association Acatcor, described agrivoltaics as "a link between energy and agriculture, in which both activities have to get along well with each other."
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Jaume Pedrós of the Unió de Pagesos farmers' association sees the technology as "an opportunity to modernise irrigation systems, with production distributed across the territory." Antonio Enjuanes, Deputy Director for Rural Infrastructure at the Generalitat, was equally direct: "Agriculture and photovoltaics must coexist, and we have to do it in a way that benefits everyone."
Practical examples from viticulture and grazing
In the innovation segment, Green Power, Folgrid Technologies and the University of Jaén presented solutions covering light optimisation beneath solar modules, semi-transparent panels and storage systems for agricultural use. "With technology we can passively distribute solar irradiation using conventional modules to improve crops," said Oriol Sánchez of Folgrid Technologies.
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Practical examples came from companies including Norfarming, which carries out sheep grazing in solar parks. Juan de Frutos of Norfarming pointed out that Spain has the second-largest sheep population in the European Union and that between 30 and 80 million euros are spent annually on vegetation management in solar parks. The Familia Torres winery uses agrivoltaics in viticulture: “Our aim with agrivoltaics is for the shading to help us delay the phenological shift and reduce the water stress on the plants.”
Paz Fentes, Deputy Director for Arable Crops and Olive Oil at the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, addressed the integration of agrivoltaics into the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), confirming that projects financed by the IDAE will retain their land eligibility and that each autonomous community has the flexibility to extend the criterion further.
Banks willing to finance
On financing, Sonia Serrano of BBVA noted that photovoltaics is a sector her institution knows well and that the bank is keen to extend that support to agrivoltaics. Miguel Ángel Amores of Triodos Bank confirmed existing exposure to both greenhouse and open-structure agrivoltaic projects. Jochen Beckmann, a lawyer at Rödl Spain, added a structural point: "Agrivoltaics can help preserve the small farm structure that characterises much of Catalonia."
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Pere Borràs, Co-Delegate of Unefcat, put the land-use question in perspective: full solar expansion in Catalonia through to 2050 would occupy less than five percent of the region's agricultural land. Pilot projects in vegetable cultivation, viticulture and extensive livestock farming are already under way. (nhp)
