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Published on: May 3, 2026 / Updated on: May 3, 2026 – Author: Konrad Wolfenstein
Agri-PV or “Cow-PV”? Nestlé Biessenhofen: When cows generate solar power – Economic analysis of an integrated energy transition model – Creative image: Xpert.Digital
Moving away from fossil fuels: How this food processing plant saves millions with cow pastures and heat pumps
In Biessenhofen, Bavaria, the food giant Nestlé is demonstrating how the industrial energy transition of the future can look in practice. With an innovative "cow-PV" system, the company combines state-of-the-art solar power generation with traditional dairy farming, creating a win-win situation for both industry and agriculture. Covering an area of nearly five hectares, thousands of solar panels provide valuable shade for grazing cows while simultaneously supplying a quarter of the electricity needed for the adjacent nutrition plant. But the solar plant is just the visible part of a much larger plan: coupled with high-performance industrial heat pumps, it creates an intelligent, closed-loop energy system that drastically reduces the use of fossil fuels. This multi-million-euro project impressively proves that climate protection, security of supply, animal welfare, and economic viability don't have to be mutually exclusive, but rather complement each other perfectly through smart local cooperation.
On April 21, 2026, Nestlé officially opened a so-called "cow-PV" system at its Nutrition plant in Biessenhofen, in the Bavarian Allgäu region – an agri-photovoltaic solution that combines solar power generation and agricultural grazing on the same land. The system was realized in partnership with local farmer Gerhard Metz and the renewable energy company BayWa r.e., which contributed its expertise in planning, construction, and operation. What at first glance appears to be a commendable sustainability initiative is, upon closer inspection, an economically sound overall concept that addresses several challenges simultaneously: volatile energy markets, rising CO2 costs, regulatory pressure, and the structural dependence of industrial food production on fossil fuels.
The agrivoltaic system covers an area of 4.74 hectares – roughly equivalent to seven football fields – in the immediate vicinity of the Nestlé Nutrition plant, to which it is directly connected. With an installed peak capacity of 4.5 megawatts and a total of 7,800 solar modules, it can theoretically cover around a quarter of the plant's electricity needs, which corresponds to the annual electricity consumption of approximately 2,000 single-family homes. The modules are mounted at a height of two meters and have a row spacing of 3.30 meters, allowing access for tractors, mowers, and forage wagons, thus ensuring that agricultural operations can continue uninterrupted.
The system meets the requirements of DIN SPEC 91434, which defines binding criteria for the primary agricultural use of agrivoltaic projects. Even during the test phase in March 2026 – with reduced operation and seasonally low solar irradiance – a 14 percent reduction in the plant's electricity consumption was achieved. On particularly sunny days, the generated solar power is sufficient to operate the entire plant. Surplus solar power is fed into the public grid.
Nestlé has invested around three million euros in the project. This sum may seem modest at first glance, but it is deliberately designed to create leverage: The direct connection to the plant and the on-site use of the electricity eliminate grid fees and transmission costs that would be incurred with externally sourced electricity. The combination of self-consumption and occasional grid feed-in creates a robust economic foundation that also protects against rising electricity prices. Plant manager Frank Brinkmann emphasized that the investment is intended to simultaneously improve the plant's competitiveness – reducing energy costs and climate protection go hand in hand here.
For farmer Gerhard Metz, lease payments from leasing land provide additional income streams that stabilize his agricultural earnings during times of volatile producer prices. At the same time, he has invested in a new, modern barn for up to 50 cows with automated milking technology, directly adjacent to the agri-PV area. The installation of a milking robot with selection gates, which controls grazing based on individual cow data, significantly reduces labor and increases operational efficiency. Thus, the overall project is mutually beneficial for both parties – industry and agriculture.
The agri-PV system is not an isolated component, but rather part of an integrated energy system that is being gradually implemented at the Biessenhofen site. Since July 2024, a highly efficient industrial heat pump has been supplying the plant with 60-degree Celsius hot water via an on-site district heating network, thus replacing fossil fuels that were previously used to generate steam. This system will soon be supplemented by another heat pump for higher temperature ranges, which will heat water to 90 degrees Celsius.
Two newly constructed thermal storage tanks, each with a capacity of 100 cubic meters, ensure a constant supply of hot water. During 2026, two additional heat pumps and a chiller with two compressors will be installed. This chiller will produce cooling water at 10 degrees Celsius, replacing the current system of using drinking water for cooling – a significant step towards water conservation in the production facility. According to the company, the first two heat pumps will save more than 3,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually. The heat pumps are already powered entirely by electricity from renewable energy sources – and will be further powered in the future by the new on-site agrivoltaic system.
The principle is economically compelling: heat pumps generate three to four times the amount of heat energy from one kilowatt-hour of electrical energy. In industrial food production, where heating and cooling are required simultaneously, waste heat from refrigeration systems can be directly recovered and used for heating purposes – a closed loop that fundamentally improves the plant's energy efficiency.
The concept of the agri-PV system explicitly takes the animals' needs into account. The modules, mounted at a height of two meters, provide shade for the heat-sensitive cows on sunny days and offer protection from rain. The area accommodates both mother cows and calves and young animals. During the trial operation, the animals oriented themselves well within the area and readily used the shaded areas under the solar modules in sunny weather.
Farmer Gerhard Metz points out that this grazing concept can mitigate the negative effects of climate change on livestock. Rising average temperatures and more frequent extreme heat events are increasingly impacting animal health – heat stress demonstrably leads to reduced milk production in dairy cows. Shading provided by solar panels acts as a cost-effective and productive protective shield, combining animal welfare with economic efficiency. At the same time, the area remains fully usable as pasture and hay meadow, as the spacing between the modules has been specifically designed to accommodate machinery.
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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The project in Biessenhofen is not an isolated case, but rather part of a rapidly growing global market segment. The worldwide agrivoltaics market is estimated at US$5.9 billion in 2025 and is projected to grow to over US$14.23 billion by 2035, representing an annual growth rate of more than 9.2 percent. According to industry observers, agrivoltaics in Germany is still in its infancy, but it has exceptionally high potential.
A study by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) has calculated that around 500 gigawatts peak solar power could theoretically be installed on the most suitable agricultural land in Germany – many times the German photovoltaic expansion targets for 2040. Even more conservative scenarios, which take nature reserves and other restrictions into account, arrive at a technical potential of 5,600 to 7,900 gigawatts peak. The Jülich Research Centre assumes that realistically, 1 to 2 percent of German agricultural land is suitable for agri-PV – this would still amount to 170 to 340 gigawatts of installable capacity. Besides investment costs and regulatory hurdles, the main obstacle to growth is considered to be the lack of sufficient grid connection points.
The project in Biessenhofen cannot be viewed in isolation from the company's global climate goals. Nestlé has committed to halving its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and achieving climate neutrality by 2050 – across its entire value chain. This commitment is based on a company-wide greenhouse gas emission of approximately 92 million tons of CO2 equivalents annually, of which around two-thirds originate from agriculture.
Nestlé already relies on renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power for its electricity supply in Biessenhofen – including through long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) with partners like Axpo. The agri-PV system complements this mix with a regional, decentralized generation component directly on site. As a driver of electrification through heat pumps, the "cow-PV" system contributes to the global climate strategy and serves as a blueprint for other Nestlé locations worldwide. Jörg Schmitt, Environmental & Sustainability Manager for the German production sites, explicitly stated that many Nestlé sites are to be modernized in a similar way over time.
One of the structural problems of large energy projects in Germany is a lack of public acceptance. The "cow-PV" plant in Biessenhofen demonstrates how this problem can be solved through a participatory project structure: A local farmer is an active participant and economic beneficiary, not merely an affected landowner. Andreas Kaufmann, member of the Bavarian State Parliament (CSU) and the Economic Affairs Committee, emphasized that the project successfully combines two seemingly contradictory goals: energy infrastructure with public acceptance, and economically sound energy generation with effective climate protection.
The regional economic benefits are not a marginal side effect: The new barn, equipped with modern milking technology and space for up to 50 cows, creates economic substance in rural areas. The lease payments for the land stabilize the farmer's operating profit in an environment of volatile producer prices. Dr. Stephan Schindele, Head of Product Management Agri-PV at BayWa r.e., emphasized that scaling such projects requires, above all, planning certainty and pragmatic permitting processes – from land valuation to grid connection.
The macroeconomic context of this investment extends far beyond operational efficiency. Since the disruptions in European energy markets between 2021 and 2023, triggered by Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and the resulting disruption of Russian natural gas supplies, security of supply for industrial consumers has become a crucial factor for business location decisions. The volatility of energy prices increases entrepreneurial risk, complicates production costing, and jeopardizes the international competitiveness of energy-intensive companies.
Decentralized, on-site power generation through agrivoltaics, combined with the use of heat pumps instead of gas-fired steam boilers, is a direct response to this vulnerability. Every kilowatt-hour that the plant produces itself is a kilowatt-hour that neither needs to be purchased nor is subject to price fluctuations. Nestlé CEO Alexander von Maillot succinctly stated this at the opening ceremony: Electrification and securing the energy supply are key tasks for the future, and Biessenhofen is implementing these concretely and innovatively – through renewable energy directly on-site, state-of-the-art technology, and tangible added value for the region.
The Biessenhofen model is more than a local success story – it's a promise of scalability. The combination of an agrivoltaic system, industrial heat pumps, thermal storage, and a refrigeration system, all interconnected through intelligent waste heat utilization, demonstrates how a traditionally energy-intensive food production site can be gradually decarbonized. The three million euros invested, which covers approximately a quarter of the plant's electricity needs, provides a benchmark for the cost range of similar projects.
Comparable projects in the food industry – such as the heat pump expansion at Arla Foods in Pronsfeld, where €14 million was invested in two industrial heat pumps with an annual output of 12.5 gigawatt-hours and an annual CO2 saving of over 5,000 tons is targeted – illustrate that Biessenhofen is not an isolated case. The trend toward electrifying industrial heat supply via heat pumps, powered by renewable electricity from on-site or nearby generation facilities, is gaining momentum. The food industry, with its specific requirements for simultaneous heating and cooling, is particularly well-suited to benefit from this combination of technologies.
The plant in Biessenhofen convincingly demonstrates that the energy transition in industry does not necessarily have to involve sacrifice or competitive disadvantages – provided that all parties involved pull together and jointly seek solutions that meet several requirements simultaneously.
Konrad Wolfenstein
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© May 2026 Xpert.Digital / Xpert.Plus – Konrad Wolfenstein – Business Development
