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Published on: March 30, 2026 / Updated on: March 30, 2026 – Author: Konrad Wolfenstein
Oberndorf am Lech Agri-Photovoltaics: From Bavarian model project to billion-dollar market – electricity and wheat from the same field – Creative image: Xpert.Digital
Germany's energy transition faces a fundamental dilemma: We need enormous amounts of space for the expansion of solar energy, but agricultural land is a scarce and valuable resource. A record-breaking project in Swabia is now addressing precisely this conflict between food production and electricity generation. In Oberndorf am Lech, southern Germany's largest agri-photovoltaic plant has been connected to the grid. Wheat and sugar beets continue to grow beneath state-of-the-art, sun-tracking solar modules. What at first glance appears to be a futuristic solar park is, in reality, the blueprint for a new multi-billion-euro market. Whether it's farmers who benefit from lucrative additional income, investors seeking green returns, or industrial giants like Nestlé using it to decarbonize their production: Agri-PV is evolving from a niche topic to the sleeping giant of the energy transition. But can this technology truly put an end to the land dispute?
At the end of March 2026, southern Germany's largest agrivoltaic plant officially commenced operation in Oberndorf am Lech in the Donau-Ries district. What appears outwardly to be an ordinary solar park is, upon closer inspection, a pioneering technical and regulatory project with far-reaching economic implications. The Munich-based start-up Feldwerke Solar GmbH, founded in October 2023, built a plant on 28 hectares with an installed capacity of approximately 17 megawatts, which, theoretically, can supply around 5,000 to 6,000 households with electricity. The unique aspect: around 90 percent of the area remains actively usable for agriculture, allowing winter wheat or sugar beets to continue to be cultivated between the rows of modules.
The plant, named Triticum – Latin for wheat – was designed and built by MaxSolar, a company with experience in agri-PV technology and tracker systems. The investor is clearvise AG, which joined the project after successfully securing the feed-in tariff in March 2025. The investor saw the project as an opportunity to demonstrate the attractiveness of the agri-PV concept for farmers, institutional investors, and energy suppliers alike. Bavaria's Minister of Economic Affairs, Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters), praised the plant as a flagship project, while Mayor Franz Moll described it as a model for the future of Germany's energy transition.
One of the most remarkable aspects of the Oberndorf project lies not in its sheer size, but in the speed of its realization. Only twelve months passed between securing the land and the project being ready for construction. The permitting process itself took just six months – a fraction of the two to three years typically required for conventional ground-mounted photovoltaic systems. This drastic time saving is no accident, but rather the direct result of a structural advantage that agri-PV projects have over conventional solar parks.
The decisive factor was the preservation of agricultural use. Conventional ground-mounted photovoltaic (PV) systems, which require rezoning, mandate compensatory areas and often extensive environmental impact assessments, significantly lengthening the permitting process. Since no additional compensatory areas for farmers were required for the agri-PV system in Oberndorf, the official procedure was considerably shortened. The project also enjoyed high acceptance among the local population, the municipality, and the authorities, further facilitating its smooth implementation.
That this speed of approval is unlikely to remain an isolated case is demonstrated by the revised Solar Package I, which came into force in May 2024. It extended simplified approval procedures and strengthened the overriding public interest in renewable energies – a political signal that further improves the framework for future agri-PV projects.
The technical foundation of the Oberndorf plant consists of single-axis tracking systems in an east-west orientation, so-called 2P tracker systems. This technology is the core of the economic promise of agri-PV. Unlike stationary, south-facing solar installations, the module rows follow the sun's path throughout the day. This not only enables a 20 to 30 percent higher electricity yield compared to conventional south-facing systems, but also offers an agronomic advantage: The tables can be raised to a fully vertical position when agricultural machinery needs to pass through for sowing, tillage, or harvesting.
Recent analyses by the Energy Economics Institute (EWI) demonstrate that tracker systems (modeled for 2024 in Brandenburg) achieve a market value up to 43 percent higher than fixed, south-facing systems – an advantage that becomes increasingly important during periods of midday electricity surpluses, as tracker systems produce more energy during the higher-volume morning and evening hours. The more consistent feed-in also reduces the load on the grid connection and lowers peak loads. Fraunhofer ISE confirms that intelligent tracker control allows for the targeted regulation of shading, light availability, and soil moisture – depending on the crop and weather conditions.
In addition to the solar panels, biodiversity strips up to two meters wide are being created beneath the modules, for example in the form of flowering strips for insects. This adds an ecological dimension to the system that goes beyond its purely energy and food benefits.
The economic appeal of agri-PV projects stems from several sources simultaneously. For farmers who make their land available for such projects, Feldwerke promises long-term additional income of up to €3,000 per hectare annually – without having to abandon agricultural use. The land retains its status as agricultural assets with all associated tax advantages; rezoning for commercial use is unnecessary. Following amendments to the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) 2025, EU agricultural subsidies (CAP direct payments) for elevated agri-PV systems remain largely unchanged, as only the area actually lost to foundations and technical infrastructure is deducted.
For investors and project developers, the picture is more nuanced. The feed-in tariff for agri-PV electricity under the 2025 Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) ranges from 6.86 to 9.36 cents per kilowatt-hour for plants awarded contracts through the Federal Network Agency's auctions. Smaller, farm-adjacent plants up to 1 megawatt, which are considered privileged, will even receive a fixed maximum rate of 9.2 cents per kilowatt-hour for 20 years starting in 2026. This is significantly higher than the average for conventional ground-mounted PV plants, which achieved a volume-weighted award of only 4.84 cents per kilowatt-hour in the auction process for July 2025.
According to a survey by the project developer Metavolt, agri-PV systems achieve an average return of between eight and 22 percent with an equity investment of between five and 20 percent. The amortization period ranges from seven to 14 years, depending on the system type and available subsidies. For comparison: For a 1-megawatt system with preferential subsidies, the construction costs (CAPEX) amount to approximately €800,000, the annual loan payment with 90 percent financing is around €51,350, and the operating costs are approximately €17,650 per year.
An honest economic analysis cannot ignore the fact that agrivoltaic (Agri-PV) systems are significantly more expensive to install than conventional ground-mounted photovoltaic (PV) systems. A recent study by the Thünen Institute for Agricultural Technology, published in February 2026, quantifies the additional costs for agrivoltaic systems at between 4 and 148 percent compared to standard ground-mounted PV systems, with specialized applications such as apple orchards exhibiting the greatest cost differences. A comparison of the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) shows that agrivoltaic systems with tracking cost around 5.66 cents per kilowatt-hour, while conventional ground-mounted PV systems cost approximately 5.03 cents – a cost difference of 0.63 cents per kilowatt-hour, which can, however, be more than offset by the higher feed-in tariff for agrivoltaic systems.
Critics, such as researchers at the Thünen Institute, argue that the costs of agrivoltaics far outweigh the agricultural benefits and call subsidies into question. An industry representative like Jochen Hauff of PV Magazine disagrees with this conclusion, pointing to the insufficient consideration of the market value benefits of tracker systems and the long-term climate resilience of agricultural land. This discourse is productive: it compels the industry to optimize its cost structures and place the economic promise of agrivoltaics on a more solid data foundation.
Another point of contention concerns the land lease market. Conventional solar parks without agricultural status can offer landowners lease payments of up to €3,000 to €4,000 per hectare – amounts that actively farming landowners simply cannot achieve on their leased land. Agri-PV mitigates this displacement effect, but does not eliminate it entirely. Farmers like Christoph Kern, a grain farmer in Rhineland-Palatinate, lose portions of their leased land to solar park investors who can pay more than twenty times the agricultural lease rate. Agri-PV concepts like Feldwerke's offer a middle ground by allowing farmers to continue cultivating their land and additionally sharing the solar revenues with them.
The Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) forms the regulatory backbone for every agri-PV project developer in Germany. Agri-PV is classified under the EEG as a special type of solar power plant and receives separate subsidies. Technical requirements include a minimum clearance height of 2.10 meters (Category 1) or 0.80 meters (Category 2 for vertical systems) above the module's lower edge, as well as compliance with DIN SPEC 91434, which stipulates that at least 85 percent of the area must be used primarily for agricultural purposes.
In 2025, the tender volume for special solar power plants was significantly increased from 300 to 800 megawatts per year. A new two-stage award procedure was also introduced, which gives preferential treatment to agri-PV plants in the first round, considerably improving their chances of winning a contract. The maximum bid in the tender process is 9.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, which is dynamically adjusted to the market price. This funding framework is deliberately designed to move agri-PV out of niche funding and into the mass market – a political signal that is currently driving rapid growth in the project pipeline in Germany.
Feldwerke alone states that, in addition to the 20 megawatts already operational, it has a further 350 megawatts under development. The company is currently planning an even larger plant in Oettingen, also in the Donau-Ries district, with approximately 20 megawatts on 30 hectares. This project is intended to be closely integrated into the regional economy and to scale up the Oberndorf model to a larger area.
New: Patent from the USA – Install solar parks up to 30% cheaper and 40% faster and easier – with explanatory videos! – Image: Xpert.Digital
The core of this technological advancement is the deliberate departure from conventional clamp mounting, which has been the standard for decades. The new, more time- and cost-effective mounting system addresses this with a fundamentally different, more intelligent concept. Instead of clamping the modules at specific points, they are inserted into a continuous, specially shaped support rail and held securely in place. This design ensures that all forces – whether static loads from snow or dynamic loads from wind – are distributed evenly across the entire length of the module frame.
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While projects like Oberndorf are primarily driven by specialized project developers and institutional investors, the Nestlé project in Biessenhofen in the Ostallgäu region demonstrates a second strategic logic: on-site industrial power generation through agri-photovoltaics. The Swiss food company is investing around three million euros in a 4.5-megawatt plant on 4.74 hectares, which is scheduled to go online in the second half of 2025. The plant, built by BayWa r.e., is expected to cover around a quarter of the total electricity consumption of the Nestlé plant in Biessenhofen, which produces, among other things, baby food, mayonnaise, and mustard.
What makes the Nestlé system special is its design as a so-called cow-PV system. The solar panels are mounted at different heights – two meters in the southern section for adult cows, and 1.80 meters in the northern section for calves. The distance between the rows is 3.30 meters, which allows the use of tractors and mowers for continued hay production. The cows directly benefit from the shade provided by the panels, which represents a real agronomic advantage given the increasingly hot summers in the Alpine foothills. Farmer Gerhard Metz is planning a new barn with automated milking technology for up to 65 cows and young stock in this context.
The Biessenhofen project complies with the new DIN SPEC 91434 standard and is a prime example of the industrial use of agri-PV for decarbonizing in-house production. Nestlé's approach demonstrates that agri-PV is not merely an investment opportunity for energy projects, but also a strategic tool for sustainability transformation for industrial companies seeking to reduce their Scope 2 emissions.
Beyond economic indicators, agri-PV offers a methodologically measurable agronomic benefit. The so-called Land Equivalent Ratio (LER) measures the efficiency of combined land use compared to separate management. An LER above 1.0 means that dual use on one area yields more than two separate areas for crops and electricity production combined. Initial field trials in Hohenheim showed an LER of around 1.5 for wheat grown in an agri-PV system with a tracking system – an increase in land-use efficiency of 50 percent. The Bioeconomy Council's background paper confirms that elevated agri-PV systems in Central Europe can typically increase the LER to between 1.6 and 1.8.
Another often underestimated aspect is the climate resilience of agricultural land under agri-PV conditions. Partial shading from solar modules protects plants from extreme sunlight and hail, reduces soil evaporation, and can contribute to stable crop yields even during extreme weather events. This is gaining practical importance in light of increasing climate change in southern Germany. At the same time, biodiversity strips under and between the modules create new ecological niches for insects and small animals – a benefit that does not exist in conventional intensive farming.
Compared to the frequently cited example of energy crops, agri-PV stands out particularly positively in terms of land use. Currently, around 14 percent of agricultural land in Germany is used for cultivating energy crops for biomass production. Even with the German government's ambitious PV expansion targets for 2030, a maximum of around 0.6 percent of arable land would be used for photovoltaic systems. The narrative of a systematic displacement of food production by solar energy thus proves to be significantly exaggerated upon closer examination.
The strategic dimension of agri-PV only becomes fully apparent when considering the national land potential. In a study published in early July 2025, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE analyzed all types of agricultural land in Germany for the first time – arable land, permanent grassland, and perennial crops such as fruit, wine, and berries. The result is remarkable: 500 gigawatts peak of agri-PV capacity could be installed on the most suitable areas – far exceeding Germany's official photovoltaic expansion target of 400 gigawatts by 2040.
In the technical scenario without soft restrictions, the researchers even identify a potential of 7,900 gigawatts peak, while in the more nature-friendly scenario, which takes flora and fauna conservation areas into account, the potential is still 5,600 gigawatts peak. These figures are not an academic exercise, but a concrete, mapped potential based on geographic information systems and real soil data. Study author Salome Hauger from the Fraunhofer ISE identifies the lack of grid connection points as the key limiting factor and calls for a prioritization of grid expansion.
In parallel, the Öko-Institut (Institute for Applied Ecology) identified approximately 4.3 million hectares of agricultural land as particularly suitable for agri-PV applications in its own analysis – corresponding to around 25 percent of Germany's total agricultural land. This figure underscores that the current stage of the market – a few pilot projects with a few megawatts of capacity – is still far from the widespread utilization of this potential.
The global market for agri-PV systems is experiencing exponential growth. Market size was estimated at approximately US$5.3 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach US$31.5 billion by 2032, according to market researchers, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 21.9 percent. Key growth drivers include government incentive programs, technological innovations in tracker systems and bifacial modules, and a growing awareness of the ecological and economic synergies of dual-use applications.
In Germany, the area used for ground-mounted photovoltaic (PV) installations rose to a total of approximately 45,200 hectares by the end of 2024. Of this, around 15,200 hectares (34 percent) are arable land and 12,200 hectares are so-called conversion areas such as former military sites or landfills. According to the German Federal Environment Agency, this growth has been steady in recent years and is projected to continue: By 2030, the area could increase to between 96,000 and 109,000 hectares, and by 2040 to between 150,000 and 195,000 hectares. With an increasing share of agrivoltaics within this new area, a significant portion of these areas would remain agriculturally productive.
The interest of institutional investors in agri-PV is growing rapidly. Project developers report a steadily increasing demand from the sustainable investment sector, because agri-PV can simultaneously address sustainability, economic viability, and the preservation of agriculture. The Triticum project in Oberndorf – with clearvise AG as the institutional investor and Feldwerke as the specialized project developer – is likely to serve as a blueprint for numerous other projects in southern and central Germany.
An honest economic analysis must also identify the structural barriers that are currently slowing the ramp-up of agri-PV. Besides the aforementioned higher investment costs compared to conventional ground-mounted PV, three factors in particular are limiting: the grid infrastructure, the feed-in tariff system, and the availability of reliable data on agronomic yields.
The grid infrastructure presents a significant barrier for many potentially suitable rural locations. The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) identified a lack of grid connection points as a key limiting factor – a problem that necessitates structural investments in grid expansion, extending far beyond the decisions of individual project developers. While the German Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) provides for higher feed-in tariffs for specific solar installations, the revenue for agri-PV typically ranges between 6 and 9.5 cents per kilowatt-hour. Industry experts see a threshold of around 10 cents per kilowatt-hour as the threshold for genuine mass adoption – a figure that, under the current funding framework, is only nearly achieved for smaller, farm-adjacent installations up to 1 megawatt.
Data on actual agronomic yields under agri-PV conditions is still limited. Long-term, reliable field trial data spanning multiple harvest years and different crops are scarce. The Bavarian State Farm in Grub is currently conducting trials with three different system types to close this knowledge gap. While it is established practical knowledge among farmers that harvesting under modules is more laborious and time-consuming, the specific yield loss varies considerably depending on the system type, crop, and farm management.
Finally, the social dimension of competition for land should not be underestimated. Even though agri-PV significantly mitigates the displacement effect compared to conventional solar parks, new distribution questions arise: Who benefits from the lease payments and electricity generation – the landowner, the farmer, or the external investor? A transparent participation structure, such as the one Feldwerke is aiming for with revenue sharing for farmers, can foster acceptance, but it does not replace comprehensive societal regulation of this conflict of interest.
The project in Oberndorf am Lech marks a significant step forward for agri-PV in Germany. It demonstrates that large-scale projects using modern tracker technology can be implemented quickly, enjoy broad public acceptance, and are simultaneously economically viable. Commissioning coincides with a period in which the political framework has been significantly improved by the 2025 Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG 2025) and the increased tender volume. The parallel development of the Nestlé project in Biessenhofen shows that the concept is attractive not only for profit-oriented energy projects but also for industrial self-sufficiency strategies.
The gap between today's pilot projects and a systemically relevant role for agri-PV in Germany's energy supply is still considerable. The Fraunhofer ISE's potential of 500 gigawatts peak on suitable land contrasts sharply with the actual deployment level, which is still in the double-digit megawatt range. The bottlenecks lie not in a lack of available land, but in grid infrastructure, capital availability, agronomic expertise, and the willingness of policymakers to adjust feed-in tariffs so that the market becomes self-sustaining. If this transformation succeeds, agri-PV would indeed be more than just a flagship project – it would be a central component of Germany's energy transition, structurally reconciling climate protection and food security.
Konrad Wolfenstein
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