MANIKGANJ, Bangladesh — In a rice field in central Bangladesh, farm worker Dilip Kumar Biswas tends crops growing in the shade of solar panels, part of an experiment to see if one of the most densely populated countries can produce food and clean power on the same land.
The nation of 175 million relies on imports for about 95% of its energy needs, a dependence made worse by rising costs caused by the war in the Middle East. One of the ways it is looking to diversify its energy supply is through more renewable energy.
Solar is by far the biggest source of renewable energy in Bangladesh, but only accounts for about 4.5% of its total generating capacity.
The problem is that solar panels are either installed on rooftops or on the ground, but roof space is limited and ground systems take up land that could be used for farming or housing.
“For land-scarce Bangladesh, balancing the needs of food and energy is critical,” said Sohanur Rahman, executive coordinator of YouthNet Global, a climate justice campaign group.
Researchers are now looking at the emerging technology of “agrivoltaics” where crops and livestock share space with solar panels.
The Bangladeshi development organization BRAC and research organization the Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) this year launched a research project to mount solar panels above farmland in Manikganj, some 50 km west of the capital Dhaka. The project is funded by the H&M Foundation, a non-profit linked to the Swedish clothing brand H&M.
Unlike India and Pakistan, which have built large photovoltaic power parks in arid regions, Bangladesh has little non-agricultural land available for utility-scale solar.
Previous proposals for solar parks have been scrapped due to concerns over loss of land and livelihoods.
But at Manikganj, solar panels are mounted more than 2 meters above the ground, allowing varying amounts of sunlight to filter through to the crops below.
Researchers measure rainfall, wind speed and other microclimate data and will compare yields with nearby control plots to assess which panel height, spacing and crop combinations best balance food production and power generation.
Farm workers are paid about $7 a day, a normal wage for farm workers Bangladesh, to grow rice, coriander, pumpkins, bottle gourds and onions.
“The shade helps preserve soil moisture while also making it comfortable for workers during hot summer days,” said  Biswas, one of the farm workers.
Shade-tolerant vegetables like ginger and turmeric have performed well in agrivoltaic pilots in Manikganj run by the German development agency GIZ as well as in Chuadanga in western Bangladesh by the Wave Foundation, a non-governmental organization (NGO) working on poverty and climate challenges.
Rearing goats and poultry has also been tested in agrivoltaic experiments in Chuadanga.
But farmers in Bangladesh are more interested in growing rice, the country’s main staple, which requires a lot of sunshine, so the ongoing project is focusing on how to grow rice under solar panels, said BIGD assistant professor Rohini Kamal.
Flood-tolerant rice varieties are needed in low-lying lands like Manikganj that are submerged during the monsoon, while the solar mounting structures have to be robust enough to withstand the strong storms that sometimes hit these areas, he said.
The economic viability of agrivoltaic systems depends on a number of variables.
Although agrivoltaic systems usually cost more to install than conventional ground-mounted solar, a 2024 pilot study in Chuadanga estimated that revenue from both crops and electricity could shorten the payback period for the panels from five or six years, to about three years under favorable conditions.
Panels that are lower and closely spaced are cheaper to build, but cast more shade, while higher and more widely spaced structures cost more, but may be better suited to sun-loving crops such as rice, said Mehedi Hasan Bappy, an agronomist working on the Manikganj project.
The rice yield so far looks good, Bappy said, but more data from more crop cycles were needed.
Workers on the project are paid a daily wage, while the electricity generated is used to irrigate the nearby farmland.
Once connected to the national grid, the project could export its surplus electricity, but existing rules would need to change for farmers or operators to receive direct payments for power generated by solar panels on their land, Ms. Kamal said.
To ensure farming communities benefit from such projects, agreements should spell out the land lease terms, payment and profit-sharing policies, said Dipal Chandra Barua, the chairman of Bright Green Energy Foundation, a Bangladeshi NGO that installs small-scale renewable energy systems in rural communities.
For now, researchers are waiting to see whether the rice harvest can match the promise of the solar panels installed above the crops.
If the model works, Ms. Kamal said, the harder test may be scaling up agrivoltaics with arrangements that allow solar power companies, farmers, landowners and rural workers to share the benefits fairly. — Thomson Reuters Foundation

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