The growing challenge for agrivoltaics
As published in pv magazine 03/2025
Agrivoltaics combines clean energy generation on dual-use sites where land productivity can continue, and even be enhanced, offering big possibilities for Italy, as Everoze partners Simon Hughes and Dario Brivio explain.
Agrivoltaics is a relatively new approach and, as projects move forward, concerns have been raised in both the solar and agriculture industries. Regulators need to work on finding the balance between the two and develop standards that ensure smooth sailing for the increased cooperation between these two vital economic sectors.
Italy is emerging among several leaders in agrivoltaic development. This is due to simplified permitting procedures for this type of project in Italy, as well as a greater availability of sites located on agricultural land, compared to securing other areas of land for ground-mounted PV.
There is still work to be done, however. Agrivoltaics regulations in Italy, as well as in other countries, have yet to be fully deployed to align with project and technology specific features.
From a technical point of view, the main aim of project engineering is often seen as compliance with rules designed to ensure agriculture can continue. Conditions are implemented to support the coexistence and enhancement of pre-existing agricultural activity alongside the operation of a solar plant. In this context, the design of PV support structures can pose unique challenges.
After allowing for the operation and maintenance of both agriculture and PV activity, the design of the
PV support structures can pose a whole array of new challenges for project engineers.
Mounting hurdles
Wind damage, climate change, and rising insurance premiums are hot topics for the mainstream ground-mounted PV sector and, Everoze predicts, will also remain paramount for agrivoltaic applications. Conventional fixed-tilt and tracker PV support structure technology has been following a steep learning curve over the last 10 to 15 years and has not yet reached its peak potential. The agrivoltaic sector will bring both different physical characteristics, such as higher structures, different forms, and foundation constraints, and also new players who are at the bottom of the learning curve.
The mainstream PV sector has been learning about flexible, dynamic structures; wake turbulence and sheltering benefits; aeroelastic instability and divergence; local pressure peaks and wind tunnel modelling; terrain effects and orography, the list goes on. In the absence of strong regulation and technical standards, best practice in structural reliability is only achieved when experienced developers, engineers, suppliers, and contractors use the lessons learned to go beyond basic code requirements.
Considering just foundation design: five meter tall structures will experience 30% higher wind pressure than mainstream, 2.5 meter units. The overturning height above foundations will be doubled and pile spacing might need to be doubled as well. All else being equal, that would lead to a fivefold increase in foundation loads, necessitating a move to different foundation technology and structural forms. Before converging on proven, resilient solutions, we predict that agrivoltaic support structure technology will diverge and experience some learning curve problems. Wind tunnel testing, ground investigation, and foundation load testing will be necessary – just like in the mainstream PV sector. A “copy-and-paste” approach won’t work, though, and expertise will be
essential to protect projects from damage.
The need for taller structures with fewer piles to hold them up means that wind is especially concerning for agrivoltaics projects.
Nascent market
At this moment for agrivoltaics, the sector faces a series of challenges that will ultimately decide its immediate future and speed of development. First, assuming we are entering a period of innovation and technology divergence, it is not clear how quickly the industry will converge on a resilient and economic set of structure types.
We need to ensure that agrivoltaic projects bring the right expertise from the mainstream PV sector, along with a level of flexibility to ensure that this sector doesn’t suffer the same painful learning curves seen in mainstream fixed-tilt and tracker projects.
As it develops, technology for agrivoltaics will need to drive standards to ensure that resilience to a changing climate is baked in and that highly-raised structures find the right balance between cost pressure and long term structural reliability. Engaging in discussion around these key technical points will help ensure that we navigate the many challenges of deploying effectively.
