The Potential of Agrivoltaics' in the Iberian Peninsula: Analysis of three different crops

The spread of utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) installations raises concerns about land occupation by power plants hindering other land uses, like agriculture. The dual land use for agriculture and energy production, proposed by agrivoltaics can contribute to solving this problem. This study analyses the potential of potato, tomato, and lettuce crops areas for electricity production in Portugal and Spain. The viability of using these crops for agrivoltaics was inspected by determining the land equivalent ratio (LER). A LER higher than 1.0 was obtained for the three crops, proving their suitability for agrivoltaics applications. The contribution of agrivoltaics systems installed in these crops’ areas to the Portuguese and Spanish electricity demand and the respective 2030 PV capacity goals was estimated. It was concluded that using 20% of the potato crops’ area for agrivoltaics, could assure 7.5% and 6.2% of respectively Portugal’s and Spain’s electricity needs and cover 1.2% of the PV capacity goals for both countries.