An Innovative Agrivoltaic System for Desert Climates with Anti-Soiling, Irradiance Control, and Water Management

The need to balance renewable energy generation and sustainable agriculture in arid regions is of global interest, due to water scarcity in many regions, and intensified heat by climate change. Conventional agrivoltaic (agri-PV) systems fall short under desert conditions. GROOViD (Green, Robust & Optically-Optimised agriVoltaics in Deserts) was conceived to overcome some of these limits by integrating conventional solar tracking with dual-use water systems for irrigation and module cleaning. The aim is to reduce water demand, enhance solar efficiency, and protect crops, supporting the UAE’s Food Security 2051, Water Security 2036, and Net Zero 2050 goals while creating a scalable model for desert agriculture. In this paper, the authors focus on the concept of the GROOViD solution, introducing the methodology, and presenting the performance and preliminary reliability findings after the first 6 months of operation. They also present a quantitative analysis of the shading benefit to the photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and to the crops evapotranspiration. They finally show the advantages of the combined cleaning-irrigation system in terms of antisoiling.