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Agrivoltaics, a new solar paneling system designed to support agriculture while providing green energy, has shown positive results in vineyards around the world—but its high cost and depleted federal funding is slowing its uptake in the U.S.
written by
Betsy Andrews
published
On a sunny June day in the Rheingau region of Germany, Manfred Stoll, Ph.D., the head of the Department for General and Organic Viticulture at Hochschule Geisenheim University, stood in the shade of a different sort of canopy than you usually see in vineyards. Three-and-half meters high and made of metal, glass, and photovoltaic cells, it was what Dr. Stoll has dubbed vitivoltaics.
That’s his term for the viticultural version of agrivoltaics, a technique first proposed in a 1981 research paper by Armin Zastrow and physicist Adolf Goetzberger, the founder of Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems. The authors envisioned a solar array positioned on a farm in such a way that it does double duty as an energy source and as a means of enhancing agriculture.
The technology is still in the experimental phase, but across more sites in Europe, Israel, Japan, and the United States, agrivoltaic systems have been proving beneficial to animal husbandry, pollinator gardening, greenhouse cultivation, crop production—including viticulture—in an era of climate change. While noteworthy results are coming from systems installed in vineyards globally, in the U.S., high costs have deterred winemakers and their uptake has hit another potential roadblock, with federal funding for environmental innovations like these now under threat.
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A third of a hectare, or about three-quarters of an acre in size, Geisenheim’s multifunctional system is installed above the vines, the photovoltaic cells embedded in clear glass modules that span a horizontal frame held aloft by metal posts. The panels are powered by motors that use an algorithm geared toward the site to rotate and fold them in response to sunlight, heat, rain, and humidity. Installed above one- to three-year-old Riesling vines, which need more moisture and UV protection, the system provides dappled shade.
With climate change stressing plants and pushing them beyond their capacity to hold balanced acidity and sugars, an agrivoltaic array like this offers winemakers the chance to go “back to the future,” says Stoll, to a time when temperatures were more appropriate for the cool-climate grapes. “Under the panels, the temperature is three to four degrees Celsius less, and there’s less radiation, leading to slower ripening. The vines suffer less sunburn, have a lower sugar content, and higher acidity.” The panels help curb evaporation during drought, too, and the soils beneath them retain more moisture. “Outside of the system, the vines are suffering more,” he adds.
Designed for viticulture, the Geisenheim system has all the bells and whistles that an agrivoltaic system in a vineyard might need. Gutters direct rainwater from the top of the panels to locations in the plot that best irrigate the vines. A heating wire woven along the frame switches on automatically to protect the vines from frost if temperatures fall below five degrees Celsius, and a built-in UVC device uses shortwave radiation, rather than chemicals, to sterilize the vines against downy mildew, which is less of a problem anyway because the vines are shielded from rain. Vineyard vehicles and researcher laptops can be charged via electric outlets on the system. The vitivoltaics are also portable, so they can be folded like an accordion and put away during high winds or moved to new rows of young vines in the future.
Geisenheim’s specialized viticultural system is still under development. But in Europe, the most prolific provider of commercial agrivoltaic systems—which share many of the same qualities—is the French company Sun’Agri, which has built 20 arrays in French vineyards, with more in Italy and Israel. In 2018, in response to increasingly unpredictable heat, drought, excessive rain, and summer hailstorms in the Pyrénées-Orientales, growers Pierre and Martine Escudié installed a five-hectare Sun’Agri array at Domaine de Nidolères, planting Grenache Blanc, Chardonnay, and Marselan beneath it. They were comfortable with partially covering vines because “traditionally, farmers planted fruit trees to provide shade for white grape varieties,” explains Martine Escudié.
With an identical control plot right beside it, plus sensors and a weather station collecting real-time data, the Escudiés can measure the system’s effects. “The main benefit we have observed is faster vine growth,” she says, with “slow and optimal grape maturation” for a better balance between acidity and alcohol, more concentrated fruit aromas, and “an unprecedented range of flavors” in the wines. Hail and frost don’t damage the vines, as during these weather events, the panels can be adjusted to a horizontal position, creating a greenhouse effect beneath them. The vines don’t suffer drought because the ground cover retains more moisture in summer. All of this contributes to 30 percent higher yields. “We strongly believe in agrivoltaics,” Martine Escudié says. “In fact, we installed a new project in 2024, planting Colombard and Cinsault. We’ll see the first results in three years.”
Larger producers are taking note. In 2023, González Byass partnered with the Spanish utility Iberdola on the Winesolar project at Finca Daramezas in drought-prone Toledo, where the agrivoltaic panels tilt automatically over nine-year-old vines of the indigenous grape variety Airén. “We have multiple plant, soil, and atmosphere sensors measuring several parameters that allow us to make decisions and improve the algorithm,” says González Byass’s agricultural engineer Miguel Tejerina.
Evapotranspiration at the Toledo site has been reduced by 30 percent; the plants beneath the panels require 20 percent less irrigation; and the soil temperature has been reduced by 15 percent on average. “And, obviously, we have produced green and clean energy, reducing our carbon dioxide footprint.” While it’s too early to see the results in vinification, they have noticed a reduction in the pH of the wine from the site.
Though he declined to give more details, Sun’Agri research director Nathanaël Kasriel says the company is “in contact with several actors in the U.S. to work on new experiments.” Indeed, the Inspire project, an agrivoltaic research initiative at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory has an online map of more than 600 agrivoltaic projects across the U.S. Yet, although many wineries now use solar power, agrivoltaics are nearly nonexistent in U.S. vineyards thus far.
At Far Niente Winery in Oakville, California, where the historic winery building precluded a rooftop installation, a solar array covers three-quarters of an irrigation pond, where it “reduces evaporative losses by decreasing airflow over the water and blocking direct solar irradiance,” says retired winemaker Greg Allen, who oversaw the installation in 2008. Though the array is not installed atop vines, the AgriSolar Clearinghouse, a nationwide hub developed by the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT), recognizes the project as agrivoltaic. Far Niente is now going further, exploring “incorporating vertically installed agrivoltaics at select vineyard sites, as certain vineyards feature sun-facing perimeter fencing,” says Allen.
At Somerset Gourmet Farm in Somerset, California, owner David Harde replaced some rows of low-producing Petit Syrah with 43 bifacial panels in 2023, which soak in both morning and afternoon sun, generating 20 to 25 percent more electricity than fixed horizontal or inclined modules. “The agricultural benefits are intermittent shade during the hottest summer days for the ripening grapes,” says Harde, “and the extra shading may help protect against fruit sunburn.” He expects to note the difference in brix and grape quality in this year’s harvest.
Where plants can cool down, so can vineyard workers. “If you’re concerned about farmworker health, agrivoltaics have huge potential to help them,” says Stacie Peterson, Ph.D., the energy program director at NCAT. In California, where there are shade laws that mandate areas where workers can escape the sun when temperatures rise above 80 degrees Fahrenheit, “this could be a solution,” she says. And, for wineries with limited roof space and property, agrivoltaics conserve land. The Fraunhofer Institute reports that agrivoltaics yield a 60 percent increase in land use efficiency.
As promising as it is, however, agrivoltaic progress in the U.S. is now under threat. Engil Pereira, Ph.D., the director of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s (UTRGV) Agrivoltaics for Climate-Smart Agriculture project declined an interview. Their project received $2.2 million under former President Joe Biden’s administration, and UTRGV communications manager Melissa Vasquez responded that Dr. Pereira “is closely monitoring the federal funding freeze and aims to avoid any actions that could affect the grant.” Among small producers partnering with the UTRGV project is Rio Grande City’s 15-acre Dos Rios Winery, where agrivoltaic panels cool the winery and power the new tasting room, while shielding the vines from the borderlands’ heat and sun.
A Radical New Vineyard Shape for a Warming Climate
Vintners may not be able to change the climate, but they’re attempting to control microclimate through innovative new vine orientation and training approaches
Vintners may not be able to change the climate, but they’re attempting to control microclimate through innovative new vine orientation and training approaches
As the Trump administration attempts to defund and depopulate agencies working on clean energy, federal funding for agrivoltaic research projects is in jeopardy. Government assistance is key for small growers because agrivoltaics do not run cheap. With the additional materials needed to elevate photovoltaic cells above the crops and sink the posts further into the ground to support the extra height, agrivoltaics are pricier than conventional solar. In Europe, a typical five-hectare array costs around €3.5 million, says Kasriel, with a return on investment in 15 to 20 years.
Where policies are geared toward increasing clean energy, the cost can be offset by favorable lending practices and government grants. For Harde, the ROI of his system will only take seven years thanks to offsetting the cost with state and federal tax credits. But the future of federal tax credits for clean energy and sustainable farming is now uncertain. And since grapes are such a high-value crop, Peterson speculates that vineyard owners are risk-averse to the economics of the technology. “Regrettably, there has been limited engagement from the winegrowing industry,” says Tia Hanes, who works in business development at Sunzaun, the provider of Harde’s panels.
“I’ve tried to pursue this with many winemakers, but so far I’ve not been successful,” laments Majdi Abou Najm, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources at the University of California at Davis. “Research into agrivoltaics in grapes in California does not exist. Growers here want to see a system work first. So it’s a chicken-and-egg situation. At the same time, I am hearing reports from growers that heat is becoming a real problem for the grapes, so one piece of advice is if you have 10 acres, start experimenting with half an acre. I think this can be transformative. It will allow the grapes to receive fair amounts of sun, it will shield them from extreme heat events, and it will add to a winery producing their energy locally in a green way.”
As to the Trump regime’s attacks on green initiatives like agrivoltaics, Dr. Najm says, “Federal funding is just one source, and I hope that the state, philanthropy, and foundations, if they see there is a gap in the funding, will step up and try to compensate for it.” He adds, “I definitely see agrivoltaics as a way forward for the wine industry.”
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Betsy Andrews is an award-winning journalist and poet and the co-author of Coastal: 130 Recipes from a California Road Trip. Her writing can be found at betsyandrews.contently.com.
written by
Betsy Andrews
published
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