From fossil fuel infrastructure to sustainable land use: agrivoltaics on oil and gas pipelines in Alberta, Canada

This study investigates re-purposing the 60 m wide oil and gas pipeline buffer zones for agrivoltaic applications. A case study of Alberta's oil pipelines is presented that maps them with solar irradiance to estimate available photovoltaic production. The results found that agrivoltaic electricity generation on the oil pipeline buffers would pay for themselves under 11 years, could theoretically generate between CAD $1.3 (single axis tracker for wheat) and CAD $6.6 trillion (fixed tilt for sheep grazing) in electricity over 30 years under full build-out conditions compared to oil pipelines' CAD $5.2 trillion. This could provide more than twice Canada's electricity needs, cut all electrical-related greenhouse gas emissions and provide more food (CAD $1.6 billion of wheat or CAD $1.0 billion in extra sheep meat/year), though actual utilization may be constrained by grid capacity, storage, and transmission infrastructure. The results show that oil and gas pipeline corridors can be transformed from long-term environmental liabilities into economically and environmentally productive assets that simultaneously advance climate mitigation, energy security, agricultural resilience, employment and land restoration.