A Study on the Integrated Profitability Model of Agro-Photovoltaic (Agro-PV) System

This study develops an integrated energy–agriculture modeling framework for Agro–Photovoltaic (Agro–PV) systems to quantitatively evaluate the trade-off between electricity generation and crop productivity under shared land-use conditions. Ten years (2013–2022) of climate data from western Chungcheongnam-do, Korea, were analyzed using irradiance-based PV simulations and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR)–driven crop growth modeling. The results indicate that Agro–PV systems produced 60–70% of the electricity yield of standalone photovoltaic installations while maintaining 50–85% of conventional agricultural productivity, depending on transmittance conditions. Under the optimal configuration (transmittance ratio of 40%), the land equivalent ratio (LER) ranged from 1.21 to 1.36, corresponding to an average combined productivity index (CPI) of approximately 0.64. This represents an estimated 28.5% increase in overall land productivity compared with single-use systems. These findings demonstrate that Agro–PV systems can enhance land-use efficiency while simultaneously contributing to carbon neutrality goals and regional food security through sustainable dual-resource utilization.