Malaysian Agrivoltaics Study Finds Cabbage and Tea Deliver Highest Land Productivity
A comprehensive techno-economic modeling investigation led by Muhammad Hazim Mohd Sohimin and Yun Ii Go evaluated the integration of solar photovoltaics with agriculture across Malaysia, concluding that shade-tolerant crops such as cabbage and tea achieve superior overall land-use efficiency compared to staple grains and tree plantations. The study, published in Discover Energy, utilized system-level simulations, multicriteria decision matrices, and sensitivity analyses to establish how dual-use agricultural photovoltaic configurations can reconcile competing demands between national renewable power capacity expansion and domestic agricultural preservation. In evaluating four distinct field scenarios representing key national crops, the researchers demonstrated that integrating photovoltaic panels with cabbage cultivation attained the highest Land Equivalent Ratio at 1.74, closely followed by tea at 1.53, whereas configurations pairing solar modules with oil palm and paddy rice generated substantially lower systemic efficiency and faced severe microclimatic and structural barriers.
The policy motivation underlying this research stems from ambitious clean energy targets set under Malaysia’s National Energy Transition Roadmap, which dictates an increase in renewable energy installed capacity to 70 percent of the total power mix by 2050, alongside a near-term objective under the National Renewable Energy Policy and Action Plan to achieve a 40 percent share by 2035. Meeting these decarbonization goals requires extensive deployment of utility-scale solar farms across a territory blessed with abundant solar irradiance averaging between 1650 and 1800 kilowatt-hours per square meter annually. However, conventional large-scale solar developments demand substantial surface areas, inevitably sparking competition for fertile acreage with the agricultural sector, which accounted for approximately 7.8 percent of national gross domestic product in 2023 and 8.9 percent in 2024. To prevent compromising food security goals outlined under the National Agrofood Policy 2021 to 2030, agrivoltaic systems have emerged as a dual-land-use mechanism capable of maintaining agricultural productivity while generating clean electricity.
To rigorously screen prospective agricultural candidates for dual-use implementation, the investigators devised a systematic scoring framework incorporating six weighted criteria that directly govern agronomic viability under photovoltaic arrays. Shade tolerance was assigned the preeminent weighting of 40 percent because photosynthetically active radiation attenuation fundamentally dictates plant biomass accumulation under panel arrays. National agro-economic potential was weighted at 20 percent to account for scalability and economic relevance across Malaysia, while mature crop height was allocated 10 percent due to its direct influence on mounting structure elevation and steel expenditure. Water consumption requirements, harvest growth rates, and microclimatic resilience against temperature and humidity shifts were each allocated 10 percent. Normalized scoring evaluations designated cabbage and tea as high shade-tolerance candidates, whereas paddy rice and oil palm were categorized as medium shade tolerance due to their fundamental physiological reliance on high incoming solar radiation for grain filling and fruit bunch maturation.
Building upon the crop selection results and an assessment of existing solar installations, four distinct 500-kilowatt direct-current system scenarios were modeled. Scenario 1 paired tea cultivation at Kampung Sungai Palas with an elevated multiuse solar structure featuring a 2.5-meter clearance height and 2.5-meter row spacing, capitalizing on the cooler highland climate and ample rainfall that assist natural panel cleaning. Scenario 2 integrated paddy rice at Jitra utilizing an elevated inter-panel spacing design positioned at a 3-meter mounting height and 3-meter row spacing to allow enhanced light penetration. Scenario 3 evaluated oil palm integration at Kempas through an elevated orchard design requiring a 10-meter mounting height and 6-meter row spacing to accommodate mature palm trees between arrays. Scenario 4 evaluated cabbage cultivation retrofitted onto an existing large-scale solar farm at Sungai Siput, utilizing compact panels mounted at a 1.5-meter clearance height with a 1-meter row spacing.
Primary engineering performance modeling was executed using PVsyst and HelioScope simulation software to evaluate electrical yield, array losses, land consumption, and economic yields under standardized tropical conditions. The simulations assumed an annual module degradation rate of 0.5 percent over a 30-year operational lifespan, a 6 percent discount rate reflecting the weighted average cost of capital in Malaysia, and a feed-in electricity selling tariff of 0.45 Malaysian ringgit per kilowatt-hour aligned with regulatory period four utility rates. Under these standardized parameters, the required land footprint varied significantly across designs, ranging from 3975 square meters for the tightly spaced cabbage installation to 9696 square meters for tea, expanding substantially to accommodate wider array spacing in paddy and palm.
The primary simulation findings revealed stark disparities in electrical generation, systemic losses, and overall environmental yields across the tested crop scenarios. Scenario 4 produced 709.2 megawatt-hours annually while utilizing the smallest overall land area, proving highly compact and cost-effective. Conversely, Scenario 3 for oil palm produced the lowest electrical output and suffered extensive systemic losses. Detailed loss breakdown showed that placing solar modules at 10 meters within an oil palm plantation caused severe shading from overarching fronds as well as heightened electrical mismatch losses due to irregular illumination profiles, ultimately diminishing system performance ratio and power output.
Evaluating overall land productivity through the Land Equivalent Ratio revealed that both cabbage and tea dramatically outperform conventional monocultural farming or unintegrated solar installations. The Land Equivalent Ratio aggregates relative agricultural and electrical yields from dual-use land against single-use benchmarks on equivalent spatial footprints, where values exceeding 1.0 demonstrate enhanced spatial efficiency. Scenario 4 achieved a total Land Equivalent Ratio of 1.74, representing the highest combined performance across both sectors, while Scenario 1 achieved 1.53. In the final multicriteria evaluation matrix incorporating capital expenditures, Net Present Value, power output, Land Equivalent Ratio, system losses, and land requirements, Scenario 1 secured the highest aggregate score of 25 points, followed closely by Scenario 4 at 23 points. In contrast, paddy achieved 21 points, while oil palm scored only 11 points due to excessive land consumption, extreme structural costs, and substantial electrical losses.
To examine agronomic risks and validate the primary findings, the researchers executed crop sensitivity modeling using the Food and Agriculture Organization AquaCrop simulator, evaluating cabbage and paddy yield responses under baseline unshaded conditions, 50 percent shading, and 75 percent shading. The sensitivity analysis demonstrated that cabbage maintained stable vegetative biomass accumulation under 50 percent shade, benefiting from microclimatic cooling and mitigated evaporative stress. In contrast, paddy rice exhibited steep, disproportionate yield losses under identical shading conditions, as reduced irradiance severely crippled photosynthetic carbohydrate production and spikelet filling. Under 75 percent shading, both crops experienced dramatic yield collapse, demonstrating that intense shading thresholds represent severe stress regimes that cannot sustain commercial food production. These crop modeling outcomes underscore that agrivoltaic deployment cannot be treated as uniformly compatible with all crops, warning that uncoordinated deployment over staple food grains could threaten regional food supply.
A secondary PESTLE analysis encompassing political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental dimensions highlighted that the structural and legal frameworks surrounding agrivoltaics in Malaysia remain nascent compared to established markets in Japan, Europe, and the United States. While the United States emphasizes federal investment tax credits and USDA rural grant mechanisms, and Japan enforces rigid agricultural productivity thresholds to safeguard domestic rice production, Malaysia currently possesses no dedicated agrivoltaic permitting framework, land-zoning classification, or tailored tariff mechanism. Malaysian projects must rely on general green financing schemes such as the High Tech and Green Facility or non-specific tax allowances like the Green Investment Tax Allowance. Furthermore, qualitative stakeholder mapping revealed that rural farmers and developers harbor persistent concerns regarding technical complexity, uncertain crop yield impacts, maintenance obligations, and elevated capital costs compared to conventional ground-mounted photovoltaic systems.
Structural and climatic design constraints represent an equally critical consideration for agrivoltaic engineering in equatorial Southeast Asia. The study highlighted that the 10-meter elevated orchard mounting structure necessary for oil palm integration imposes excessive capital expenditure penalties due to greater structural steel mass, deeper reinforced foundations, and wind bracing. Under tropical monsoon regimes characterized by torrential precipitation and high wind shear, elevated arrays endure increased wind uplift forces and heightened dynamic bending moments at column bases, coupled with severe corrosion risks from sustained atmospheric humidity. Consequently, the researchers conclude that near-term agrivoltaic commercialization in Malaysia should prioritize low-profile, cost-effective mounting systems paired with shade-tolerant, low-canopy crops like cabbage and highland tea, creating a verified foundation for dual-use land efficiency before attempting more complex agroforestry configurations.
Subject of Research: Techno-economic and agronomic assessment of agrivoltaic crop and site selection in Malaysia
Article Title: Assessing Malaysian agrivoltaics from energy-land-food perspective: site-crop selection, scenario development and sensitivity analysis
Article References: Mohd Sohimin, M. H., & Go, Y. I. (2026). Assessing Malaysian agrivoltaics from energy-land-food perspective: site-crop selection, scenario development and sensitivity analysis. Discover Energy, 6(1), Article 52. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43937-026-00154-3
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: 10.1007/s43937-026-00154-3
Keywords: agrivoltaics, dual-use farming, solar photovoltaics, land equivalent ratio, cabbage cultivation, tea cultivation, paddy rice, oil palm, microclimate modification, crop shading sensitivity, renewable energy transition, Malaysia energy policy, PVsyst modeling, AquaCrop simulation, photovoltaic system loss, food security
News Source: Alan Morgan. (November 14, 2026). Malaysian Agrivoltaics Study Finds Cabbage and Tea Deliver Highest Land Productivity. Scienmag.
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