{"id":27817,"date":"2026-10-22T12:01:24","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T06:31:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=27817"},"modified":"2026-10-22T13:38:03","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T08:08:03","slug":"agrivoltaic-farming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/agrivoltaic-farming\/","title":{"rendered":"Agrivoltaics"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Agrivoltaics Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Operationalising just 10% of the agricultural land deemed suitable for agrivoltaics in India could generate enough electricity to meet the country\u2019s projected power demand for 2050, Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) said recently. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Agrivoltaics<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Agrivoltaics, also known as <\/span><b>Agri-Photovoltaics (AgriPV)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><b>agrisolar, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">or <\/span><b>dual-use solar<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, is the practice of<\/span><b> utilizing the same land <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">for both <\/span><b>farming and solar power generation.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This combination helps address two pressing issues: <\/span><b>clean energy production<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>sustainable agriculture.\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The idea of agrivoltaics has <\/span><b>been around since the 1980s.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> After the turn of the millennium, the concept of agrivoltaics was put into practice and researched in <\/span><b>pilot plants, first in Japan, then in Germany and France.\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, it is only in recent years that the implementation of this concept of agrivoltaics has gained momentum.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Agrivoltaics<\/span><b> designs vary<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> depending on crop type, geography, and climatic conditions:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Elevated systems:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Solar panels are mounted several metres above the ground, allowing normal farming below.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Row-based systems: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Panels are placed between crop rows to reduce shading impact.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Vertical systems:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Upright panels capture sunlight from both sides, suitable for certain crops.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Greenhouse-integrated systems<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Panels are incorporated into greenhouse structures to regulate light and temperature.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Agrivoltaic systems can <\/span><b>create unique microenvironments <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">that benefit both energy generation and crop growth:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Improved Water Efficiency: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>shade from solar panels reduces evaporation<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><b>helping soil retain moisture <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">for longer periods. Studies indicate <\/span><b>water savings of up to 30% <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in agrivoltaic setups.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Temperature Regulation:<\/b> <b>Partial shade<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from panels helps <\/span><b>maintain optimal temperatures <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">for certain crops, particularly during intense summer heat.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Enhanced Plant Growth:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Many crops, especially shade-tolerant varieties, show improved yields when grown under solar panels due to reduced heat stress and better water retention.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Agrivoltaics Status in India:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Agrivoltaics in India is currently<\/span><b> at a nascent and pilot-based stage<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, with nearly 50 installations across the country experimenting with different crop\u2013panel combinations and assessing their economic viability.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>MNRE estimates<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that an <\/span><b>extra 630 GWp of solar power could be produced <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">by <\/span><b>putting solar panels on just 1% of India&#8217;s agricultural land. <\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>News: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/business\/Industry\/agrivoltaics-on-10-of-suitable-land-can-meet-2050-power-demand-pralhad-joshi\/article71608458.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><b>TH<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Agrivoltaics, also known as Agri-Photovoltaics (AgriPV), agrisolar, or dual-use solar, is the practice of utilizing the same land for both farming and solar power generation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":130090,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[11073],"class_list":["post-27817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","tag-agrivoltaics","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27817"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":130150,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27817\/revisions\/130150"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}