As part of a scientifically monitored Interreg project, a winery in Sissach, Basel-Landschaft, is testing solar power systems in its vineyards.
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In a vineyard near Sissach, Basel-Landschaft, the sun is now generating not only wine but also electricity. The EU-funded Interreg Upper Rhine program is financing a pilot project to test the benefits of photovoltaics (PV) in viticulture in this Basel-Landschaft municipality.
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The solar panels at the Zelglihof have been in operation since early summer 2026, as Viticulture Commissioner Urs Weingartner of the Ebenrain Agricultural Center said Tuesday during a media tour. The PV modules are designed to kill two birds with one stone: using agricultural land to generate renewable energy while also protecting the vines from hail, late frost, and heat.
So-called agri-PV already exists in Switzerland in fruit and berry orchards. In viticulture, however—apart from a system of a different design installed in Walenstadt, St. Gallen, in 2013—it is still a novelty. Weingartner noted that the geographical conditions for viticulture, with their sun-exposed slopes, are ideally suited for PV.
The Wiedmer family’s Zelglihof was chosen for the test because it already has a wiring system in place to feed the solar power it generates into the grid. In addition, the farm grows the hardy Muscaris grape variety, which requires little pesticide treatment, simplifying the operation of the system.
The pilot plant comprises 250 square meters of vineyard area and 70 square meters of solar panels. In the four and a half months since the PV system went online, it has generated nearly 5.8 megawatt-hours to date. That is 1.5 times as much as a four-person household consumes in a year, as Weingartner calculated.
Over the next two years, the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (Fibl) in Frick, Aargau, will evaluate the effects of small rooftop solar panels on plants as well as on grape and wine yields. To this end, sensors have been installed in the vineyard that continuously transmit data, according to research associate Linnéa Hauenstein.
Among other things, the study examines the effects on soil moisture and shading—after all, even the heat-loving vines reached their limits during the scorching summer of 2026.
In addition to Sissach (BL), the cross-border pilot project includes two other locations in Germany. According to the Ebenrain Center, the total cost of the Interreg-funded project is not yet known.
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