Energy Research & Social Science 75 (2021) 102023
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Energy Research & Social Science
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/erss
Integrating solar energy with agriculture: Industry perspectives on the
market, community, and socio-political dimensions of agrivoltaics
Alexis S. Pascaris a, *, Chelsea Schelly a, Laurie Burnham b, Joshua M. Pearce c, d
a
Environmental and Energy Policy Program, Department of Social Sciences, Michigan Technological University, 1400 Townsend Drive Houghton MI 49931, USA
Sandia National Laboratories, P.O. Box 5800, Albuquerque, NM 87185, USA
c
Department of Materials Science & Engineering and Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI 49931, USA
d
School of Electrical Engineering, Aalto University, Finland
b
A R T I C L E I N F O
A B S T R A C T
Keywords:
Agrivoltaics
Social acceptance of solar technology
Solar development
Solar energy policy
Large-scale development of solar-generated electricity is hindered in some regions of the U.S. by land use
competition and localized social resistance. One approach to alleviate these coupled challenges is agrivoltaics:
the strategic co-location of solar photovoltaics and agriculture. To explore the opportunities and barriers for
agrivoltaics, in-depth interviews with solar industry professionals were conducted and findings suggest that the
potential for an agrivoltaic project to retain agricultural interests and consequently increase local support for
development is the most significant opportunity of dual use solar. Capable of increasing community acceptance,
participants expect agrivoltaics to play an important role in future solar endeavors, especially in places where
development may be perceived as a threat to agricultural interests. The results further reveal the in
terconnections among the various dimensions of social acceptance and suggest that the growth of agrivoltaics is
contingent on market adoption of the technology through community acceptance and supportive local regulatory
environments. As solar photovoltaic systems transcend niche applications to become larger and more prevalent,
the dimensions of social acceptance, including the opportunities and barriers associated with each dimension,
can help inform decision making to enhance the growth of agrivoltaics and thus photovoltaic development. The
findings can help land use planners, solar developers, and municipal governments make informed decisions that
strategically and meaningfully integrate agriculture and solar, and in turn provide multiple benefits including the
retention of agricultural land, local economic development, and broad adoption of solar energy technologies.
1. Introduction
Despite the mature and promising potential for solar photovoltaic
(PV) technology to retrench global reliance on fossil fuels, large-scale PV
development is experiencing complex challenges, including land use
conflict [1–3] and — as the scale of solar has increased — social resis
tance, which has previously been more commonly associated with largescale wind farms [4–6]. Growth in large-scale PV development can
create land use disputes, especially in instances of competition between
land for agriculture versus energy production [1,7,8]. This history and
growing concern over land use highlights the challenge of meeting the
soaring demands for solar power while conserving rural and agricultural
lands [9]. It is posited that the impact of solar development on land will
be diminished by siting PV in a manner that is compatible with multiple
uses [10], suggesting changes in conventional practices will be
necessary.
Agrivoltaics, the co-development of land for both agriculture and PV,
is an innovative and increasingly popular approach to solar develop
ment [11–14]. This deliberate co-location of agriculture and PV is
intended to alleviate land use competition [2] and boost revenues for
landowners [15], among other benefits. Numerous empirical studies
have investigated the technical viability of agrivoltaic systems, exam
ining PV with plant cultivation [11,16–22], aquaponics [23], and live
stock production [24–28]. Overall, agrivoltaic systems have been
demonstrated as a technically and economically practical use of agri
cultural land, capable of overcoming the dominant separation of food
and energy production and increasing land productivity by 35–73%
[11].
This work is part of a larger study of agrivoltaic technology [27] that
involves technical and social research as well as life cycle assessment
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: aspascar@mtu.edu (A.S. Pascaris).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102023
Received 23 September 2020; Received in revised form 26 February 2021; Accepted 4 March 2021
Available online 21 March 2021
2214-6296/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
A.S. Pascaris et al.
Energy Research & Social Science 75 (2021) 102023
is a complex social response [34]. Although Wüstenhagen et al.’s [4]
work is based on wind energy and renewables in general, the constructs
developed are applied here to agrivoltaics because of the similarities
between large tracts of agricultural land being appropriated for solar
energy generation and large tracts of land appropriated for wind and
other large-scale RE projects. As new energy technologies such as agri
voltaics transcend niche applications to become more prevalent, the
dimensions of social acceptance, including the opportunities and bar
riers associated with each dimension and their interconnections, can
help inform decision making to enhance the growth of agrivoltaic
development.
Recent research maintains that the social dimensions of developing
energy systems are perhaps the most critical, as previous endeavors in
the U.S. reveal that the social component to development can ultimately
determine the success of a solar project [3,32,35–40]. Bell et al. [41,42]
describe a “paradoxical social gap” between high public support for
wind energy but low success for concrete local developments, high
lighting a discrepancy that is limiting the proliferation of RE. Public
opinion surveys conducted by Carlisle et al. [37] confirm this social gap
with regard to solar energy, finding strong American support for largescale solar yet eminent opposition to local projects. The overall posi
tive attitude towards solar has effectively (mis)led relevant actors to
overlook social acceptance as an invaluable element of development [4],
further widening the gap between project proposal and ultimate
implementation. Because social acceptance is pivotal to energy transi
tions, this study reflects a proactive attempt to understand agrivoltaics
from a solar industry professional’s perspective to better understand the
opportunities and barriers of agrivoltaic systems; the responses centered
on themes related to social acceptance and public perceptions, therefore
this paper places the findings from this research into the context of
Wustenhagen’s social acceptance framework.
(DE-EE0008990). Interviews were conducted with both solar industry
professionals and agricultural industry professionals [30]. Interviews
with agricultural professionals suggests that the effective diffusion of the
agrivoltaic innovation is strongly related to the acceptance of farmers
[30], which further emphasizes the need to study the technology within
a social context to identify and address relevant barriers. Analysis of
both interview datasets was conducted inductively, meaning that a
conceptual framework for making sense of the data was not applied
prior to empirical examination of the interview transcripts. Inductive
coding revealed that within the broad category of opportunities and
barriers, solar industry professionals and agricultural industry pro
fessionals are focused on different considerations; agricultural industry
professionals see agrivoltaics as an innovative technology and the
diffusion of this innovation was discussed based on dimensions high
lighted in the diffusion of innovations framework [30]. Solar industry
professionals, in contrast, were also asked about opportunities and
barriers, but their responses focused on the potential for agrivoltaics to
improve the social acceptance of solar technology. The value of taking
an inductive approach to this research is the opportunity it provides to
reveal this divergence, the implications of which are considered in the
discussion.
The specific intent of this study was to draw insight about solar
development from participant experience, and responses indicate that
the most considerable opportunities and barriers center on social
acceptance and public perception issues. Perspectives about the oppor
tunities and barriers to agrivoltaic development were captured via in
terviews with solar industry professionals, and inductive analysis
revealed that interviewees were most focused on opportunities and
barriers that correspond with Wüstenhagen et al.’s [4] three dimensions
of social acceptance: market, community, and socio-political factors.
The social acceptance of renewable energy is shaped by a complex
interplay among market, community, and socio-political factors [4].
While this framework is constructive for understanding the varying di
mensions of social acceptance, Devine-Wright et al. [31] assert that it is
weak in terms of the relationships between dimensions, suggesting that
further research should apply a holistic approach for discerning the
interdependence among factors shaping social acceptance of renewable
energy. The purpose of this study is therefore to explore the perceptions
of industry professionals in the U.S. and consider the implications of the
identified opportunities and barriers from a social science perspective.
While the participants of this study discuss this technology specif
ically in the context of their experience, which is primarily with grazing
and pollinator applications, the results are relevant to agrivoltaics more
broadly. By grounding to relevant solar industry professionals’ experi
ence navigating solar development, the insights drawn from this study
speak to the opportunities and barriers of various agrivoltaic applica
tions through analytic generalization [29]. The findings can help land
use planners, solar developers, and municipal governments make
informed decisions that strategically and meaningfully integrate agri
culture and solar and in turn provide multiple benefits including the
retention of agricultural land, local economic development, and broad
adoption of solar energy technologies.
2.1. Market acceptance
The market dimension of RE acceptance includes market adoption
[43] and the acceptance of a technology by consumers, investors, and
firms [4]. Devine-Wright et al. [31] explain that the proliferation of RE
innovations depends on how the technology fits into markets and
stimulates investment and that issues regarding business and revenue
models, including siting decisions, play a pivotal role in acceptance by
different market players. Wüstenhagen et al. [4] assert that acceptance
can be expressed as investment. From an investor’s perspective, the
reliability of a RE technology is paramount for its implementation.
However, the lack of reliable information for stakeholders is understood
to be the most typical barrier to market acceptance [44]. To investigate
conditions that promote market acceptance, three factors are particu
larly relevant: competitive installation/production costs; mechanisms
for information and feedback; and access to financing [32].
2.2. Community acceptance
Building on the significance of the local context of RE, research has
turned towards addressing community-level resistance and siting con
flict [3]. Many studies have shown that successful implementation of RE
systems necessitates sensitivity to local community preferences and
values [38,45,46]. More than 25 years ago, Walker warned that the
pursuit of RE expansion should not happen at the expense of local im
pacts, stressing the importance of “locally appropriate” projects [47].
Research focused on the community dimension of RE finds that support
from local populations is arguably the most critical component to the
actualization of projects [48]. It turns out the classic NIMBY (not-in-mybackyard) perspective does not adequately characterize the disconnect
between high levels of general support for RE and localized opposition.
Studies have found that place-based elements impose a major influence
on community perceptions and attitudes [48,49]. Thus, considering and
accommodating community preferences and values is consequential for
2. Literature review
Social acceptance of renewable energy (RE) infrastructure plays a
critical role in the furtherance of the RE transition and social science
research helps to better understand the factors that impact acceptance
and expansion of such technologies [4,6,31–33]. While many previous
studies are focused on renewable sources of fuels and electricity
including ethanol, wind, and hydro and are not specific to solar, they are
nonetheless broadly applicable, emphasizing energy development as a
social matter with technical components rather than a technical matter
with social components. Wüstenhagen et al.’s [4] three-dimensional
social acceptance framework moves beyond designations of people as
simple supporters or opponents and recognizes that the acceptance of RE
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Energy Research & Social Science 75 (2021) 102023
gaining social acceptance of a localized solar project.
Yet there may be other community acceptance drivers, looking at
wind energy as an example. Bergmann et al. examined preferences for
RE (specifically wind and hydro) among rural and urban residents and
found that rural residents perceive RE to be threatening to current
economic interests associated with natural amenity tourism [50]. Mul
vaney et al. [51], however, found that rural residents perceive wind
turbines as an opportunity to protect their farmland from other land
uses, thus preserving rural identity. Guerin [52] asserts that without
support from rural landowners and farmers, large-scale PV will be
severely limited and that the successful implementation of agrivoltaic
systems lies in farmer acceptance. Because solar projects that represent
local communities are expected to have higher levels of acceptance [44],
it will be important that the design and scale of agrivoltaic systems align
with rural identity and interests.
Table 1
Interview Participant Characteristics.
Profession
Geographic Region
Gender
Solar Developer: 8
Performance Engineer: 3
Policy Expert: 3
Northeast: 5
Southeast: 3
Midwest: 4
West: 2
Male: 11
Female: 3
perceptions regarding the opportunities and barriers to agrivoltaics.
Interview methods establish validity of measurement by soliciting
credible responses from participants and providing a means to gather
nuanced descriptions surrounding the phenomenon under study
[62–64]. While appropriate for the purpose of this study, interview
methodology as a data collection technique inherently has limitations.
Perhaps of most relevance is social desirability bias, which can be un
derstood as the tendency of study participants to forego providing re
sponses that truly reflect their feelings, choosing to answer in a way they
perceive as “socially desirable” [65]. Additionally, interviews happened
virtually rather than in-person, which may have altered the interview
environment, thus impacting the authentic flow of respondent’s replies.
Despite these limitations, this research adhered to established tech
niques for data collection and analysis, rendering the data as objective
and systematic as possible [66].
This study specifically engaged solar industry professionals, pri
marily developers, as they have firsthand knowledge and direct expe
rience with solar development and the factors that shape the success or
hinder their projects. Because the majority of interviewees are experts in
solar energy development, their responses focused on the components of
agrivoltaics associated with solar energy rather than focusing on specific
dimensions associated with the agricultural component of such projects.
These key informants were selected to share their relevant experience
and speak specifically to the dynamics involved in solar energy devel
opment and the opportunities and barriers involved in integrating
agricultural production with solar energy, rather than directly repre
senting the opinions of the general public.
Fourteen interviews were conducted with people who self-identified
as solar developers, solar performance engineers, and energy policy
experts, 10 of whom had some experience with agrivoltaics, with most of
that experience involving passive grazing or pollinator-friendly planting
systems. Recruited through existing research networks, participants
were engaged via email invitation that included a brief introduction to
the agrivoltaic concept and an overview of the study. The interviews
lasted from 30 to 90 minutes, occurring virtually through video con
ference. Data collection was completed between February and April
2020 and continued until saturation was reached. As is customary
among researchers applying grounded theory analysis techniques, data
saturation is sought as the point where no additional new information is
extracted from participants and novel patterns in the data stabilize
[67,68].
Theoretical and snowball sampling methods were purposefully used
to select study participants, as these sampling strategies are deliberate in
capturing a sample with certain characteristics [67–70]. Theoretical
sampling is a non-probability technique used to select participants based
on specific characteristics that align with the research purpose [67,68],
whereas snowball sampling is an accumulation process that builds a
sample based on referrals from study participants to other acquaintances
who have the potential to contribute to the research inquiry [70]. For
this study, the aim was to interview solar professionals to achieve logical
representation of a wide range of diverse and relevant perceptions
related to agrivoltaics. These sampling strategies captured a heteroge
neous sample of participants representing different professions,
geographic locations, and gender (See Table 1).
The geographic regions in Table 1 are defined in accordance with
standard regional classifications in the U.S., in which a region is estab
lished based on its geographic position [71]. Of the five regions
2.2.1. Stakeholder engagement
Within the domain of community acceptance, stakeholder engage
ment and participatory decision making are well recognized strategies
that contribute to higher levels of acceptance and successful RE de
velopments [6,38,53]. Soliciting participation from the public effec
tively ensures local voices are heard, considered, and incorporated into a
project [54], giving developers direct opportunity to reflect local pri
orities in a RE development. Upholding community values and goals,
both better understood and addressed through public participation, is
thus invaluable and strategic, as a system that is designed inclusively
lends itself to local acceptance rather than resistance [38]. Chrislip &
Larson explain that failure to include all affected stakeholders in the
development process impacts both the legitimacy and viability of a
project [55]. Consideration of all involved stakeholders through
participatory energy planning can contribute to the design of a project
that generates localized benefits: the monetary gains from a RE project
remain in a community [56] and a sense of cohesion and pride tends to
mature amongst residents [57]. Simpson suggests that meaningful
engagement with local communities and relevant stakeholders has the
capability to build trust in both RE and developers [44]; trust is also
considered a prerequisite to project support. Therefore, a democratic
and collaborative approach to development may be a key consideration
for the social acceptance of agrivoltaics.
2.3. Socio-Political acceptance
The socio-political dimension of acceptance encompasses policy
makers and key stakeholders. Wüstenhagen et al. [4] assert that this may
be the predominant dimension, given that policies and regulations
create an institutional framework for RE, which effectively shapes
market and community acceptance. Research on the socio-political
acceptance of RE has sought to understand this dimension by using
both public opinion research aimed at measuring factors that influence
support for RE [37,58,59] and investigation of government policies and
incentives [60,61]. According to Simpson [43], policies that provision
financial incentives generate greater social acceptance of solar, espe
cially if the hosting communities benefit the most. Implementation of
solar is ultimately a local political decision as municipal governments
and zoning boards include members of the relevant community and
provide a forum to incorporate the views of the public, therefore an
awareness that solar projects operate within a local policy context is
necessary for successful development [38]. Application of these research
findings to the emerging agrivoltaic concept requires investigating how
policy measures, public participation models, and social institutions can
help stimulate social acceptance of such developments.
3. Research methodology
In-depth, semi-structured interviews with U.S. solar industry pro
fessionals were selected as the most suitable methodology to explore
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Energy Research & Social Science 75 (2021) 102023
commonly considered in the U.S. (West, Southwest, Midwest, Southeast,
Northeast), this sample includes participants from the West, Midwest,
Southeast, and Northeast regions. A map of the U.S. geographic regions
is presented in the Appendix (Fig. 1), sourced from National Geographic
Society [71]. Further, the participant classification of “policy experts” is
inclusive of a University extension agent based on their relevant
experience.
By use of semi-structured interview protocol and grounded theory
methodology, data collection proceeded concurrently with data analysis
[66,72]. Striving to understand the social dimensions of agrivoltaics,
interview questions were loosely organized around three themes: (1)
solar development and important factors that stimulate or challenge a
project; (2) experience with and perceptions of agrivoltaics, including its
benefits, opportunities, barriers, and risks; (3) potential for growth of
solar energy through agrivoltaics. As is standard in practice of utilizing
interview methods and a grounded theory approach [66], responses
derived from the first interviews conducted then informed the evolution
of subsequent questions, which naturally progressed over time to
address specific factors involved in agrivoltaic development. The base
line interview protocol (see Appendix) was used consistently, but
additional questions and prompts matured based on previous
interviews.
Driven by the flexible and durable approach of the grounded theory
method, interviews were analyzed on a line-by-line basis to explore
nuances of meaning [66]. A series of coding combined with analytic
induction and constant comparative analysis were used to analyze data
for insight into patterns, processes, and connections. Analytic induction
is the procedure of identifying patterns in qualitative data by estab
lishment of themes and categories, followed by progressive distillation
of those themes and categories by repeated comparison against new
observations [73].
Research received approval from Michigan Technological Uni
versity’s Institutional Human Subjects Review Board prior to initiation.
Interview participants provided consent for the recording of conversa
tions, which was followed by manual transcription and input into the
qualitative data analysis program NVivo 12 Pro for analysis [74]. Data
has been anonymized for the protection of participant’s privacy. By
virtue of interview methodology, these findings do not lend themselves
to statistical analysis or generalization. Given the nature of the sample,
findings are presented descriptively to avoid suggesting that they are
directly generalizable in the sense that a random and representative
sample may be. However, only themes raised by the majority of par
ticipants are discussed as findings, revealing the core themes most
commonly advanced by interviewees (see Table 2).
factors raised by participants, this dimension of social acceptance is
considered most challenging in the context of agrivoltaic development.
4.1.1. Complexity, Risk, Safety, liability
Solar industry professionals in this study view agrivoltaic projects as
complex and requiring extra effort to actualize, including added layers
of intricacy in system design and increased coordination with stake
holders. Concerns of complexity range from the technical details of ac
commodating a dual use under the solar array, the impact, of say, nonoptimal tilt angles on electrical production, and other considerations
such as balancing stakeholder interests, all of which encumber project
development, as stated by one developer and one engineer:
You add something, it’s more cost, more maintenance, more
complexity, more work, more training, more people, more stuff. It’s
harder to pull it off.
The problem is you have to do all of the things you normally have to
do to get a solar project, and then you burden yourself on top of it by
having to do a mixed-use site.
Participants detailed the elaborate development process for new
solar installations. Adding another layer of complexity is perceived as
“more headache than it’s worth,” as one developer expressed, making
pursuit of agrivoltaics unattractive from this perspective, and poten
tially financially burdensome, presenting a barrier to market accep
tance. Although the majority of participants (13 of 14) spoke of the
commendable benefits of agrivoltaics, half of the interviewees said the
extra effort needed for development is effectively a deterrent; one policy
expert with experience in agrivoltaic development explained:
The challenge there is trying to get people to want to pay the time
and effort to now go through an added level of design. Now I’ve got
to sit with [a farmer] and figure out what she needs so that my
system accommodates her farming equipment, the crops she might
want to grow. Developers, they already have enough layers, they
don’t need another layer, they don’t need to be educated on some
thing else.
Despite the barriers imposed on development associated with the
perceived complexity of agrivoltaic installations, participants reveal a
potential trade-off between complexity and coordination. Expending
substantial effort and resource to manage the logistics of a dual use
project and involve farmers in the planning stages may be key to the
success of agrivoltaic projects, as suggested by three different
developers:
On the operational side it creates complexity, but on the develop
ment [side] it helps you build partnerships, it helps you get
community approval, it helps you benefit the local environment with
pollinators or animals or whatever they’re doing to help the land.
4. Findings: Understanding opportunities & barriers to
agrivoltaics
The findings are organized below according to each dimension of
social acceptance: market, community, and socio-political acceptance.
Exact quotations, indicated in italics, are provided along with analysis.
The results, which build directly on previous research on the social
acceptance of renewable energy, offer the first insights into the social
acceptance of agrivoltaics and identify opportunities, such as public
perceptions, as critical. Section 5 provides a discussion of the implica
tions of these results, including an overview of key findings and
recommendations.
If it is a local partnership opportunity, then it puts a different
personality on the project rather than being a nuts and bolts thing.
It’s actually something that could help the local community, or at
least members of the local community.
It probably slightly hurts your operating expenses due to the
complexity and not really making any money on it, but it helped you
build the project.
Speaking from experience, many participants perceived the value of
stakeholder engagement as potentially greater than the added burden of
development complexity. Almost 80% (11/14) of participants discussed
that actualizing the benefits of agrivoltaic systems has clear trade-offs:
building relationships and gaining support for solar come at the price
of time and effort. The importance of community relations as expressed
by participants is further discussed in subsection 4.2.
Further, participants also raised concerns around risk, safety, and
liability, which represent notable market barriers to the realization of
4.1. Market acceptance
Participants spoke directly to the market challenges associated with
agrivoltaics. Themes related to development including complexity, risk,
safety, liability, economic profitability, and non-monetary benefits
surfaced frequently during interviews, providing insight into the most
relevant market opportunities and barriers to agrivoltaics as perceived
by industry experts. Based on the magnitude and frequency of market
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Energy Research & Social Science 75 (2021) 102023
agrivoltaic projects. Both developers and engineers were thoughtful
about the logistics of hosting a farmer on an electrical site. Consider
ations of designing an agrivoltaic site that is both safe and agreeable is
explained by one developer who has experience with dual-use projects:
I think financially it would be huge for everybody. The investor
wouldn’t care as long as they’re saving. I don’t think the solar system
owner would care as long as it doesn’t negatively affect them- they
have something in writing to cover themselves for liability and in
juries and insurance, and their O&M is significantly reduced. The
farmer is more profitable and/or is able to sell their meat for less.
And its, you know, free range, natural, grass fed, outdoor meat.
A big hurdle too is just having that third-party liability insurance,
that is huge from both a safety and a legal perspective on the
developer side. Because any one person or thing that’s on your site,
not that an animal would have insurance, but a farmer or somebody
that is on site, they have to have a certain amount of coverage to
protect themselves and the developer from any type of safety risks,
hazards, things like that.
One policy expert and one developer both with experience in dual
use systems reflect on the opportunity for developers to directly benefit
financially from an agrivoltaic project:
We are seeing sheep farmers creating new value-added business.
They just rent their sheep, they bring them there and leave them
there and do a solar project in two to three weeks. And I think that’s
something that is probably another level to this business that a lot of
the developers were hoping could be a creative way to overcome that
added maintenance that goes into these projects.
In the face of safety hazards, risk, and potential liabilities, some
participants are skeptical about adding an agricultural function to a
conventional solar site, but two other developers point out that delib
erate coordination in project design could address these concerns:
We would just want to work something out where we both have
proper access, proper liability coverage, in case his animals do any
damage, in case he gets electrocuted.
As long as there is some agreement in place between us and the
farmer about not stepping on each other’s toes, then I don’t really see
any problems with it.
If you have an additional revenue stream that is associated with that
solar plant, I think it potentially can actually benefit the solar in
dustry because it can help absorb some of the incremental costs and
provide the developer an incremental revenue stream and a moti
vation to do solar.
While challenges associated with risk, safety, and liability are
apparent to participants, those with experience in agrivoltaic develop
ment suggest that due diligence through collaboration with involved
parties can overcome them. In short, the significant barriers to market
acceptance of the technology as explained by participants are related to
complexity and risk. This finding illustrates how different market
players perceive the reliability of the technology, suggesting that market
acceptance of agrivoltaics is influenced by anticipated costs and risks.
While participants explained that economic constraints are eminent
in solar development and that they do not expect large economic returns
from agrivoltaic ventures, they also anticipate that the opportunities
that such developments could provide are beyond the bottom line. These
findings suggest that the significant benefits related to agrivoltaic
development transcend increased profit, as further discussed below. Is
sues related to revenue models and investment in solar development
have been identified by these participants, highlight both economic
uncertainties and opportunities as important to the market acceptance
of agrivoltaics.
4.1.2. Economic profitability
Participants lamented the constraint economics pose on project
fulfillment, explaining that a development has to “pencil financially” in
order to be realized. Some participants expressed doubts that investors
would finance an agrivoltaic project because dual use has the potential
to compound risks and uncertainties. Similarly, participants stated
concerns about the costs associated with the increased coordination
required to actualize a dual-revenue stream. Skepticism that an agri
voltaic project would generate additional revenue for solar companies
was recurrent, but participants explained that savings could be of
greater utility than profit; two different developers without experience
in agrivoltaic described a potential economic benefit of agrivoltaics
involving animal grazing:
4.1.3. Non-Monetary benefits
Generating an added revenue stream for farmers surfaced as a pri
mary rationale for undertaking an agrivoltaic development. This in
dicates the importance of the market dimension of agrivoltaics,
especially because participants presume prioritizing increased revenue
for farmers may positively impact other dimensions of acceptance. Solar
industry professionals exalted the idea of benefitting the agricultural
community as a chief reason for deploying a dual use system:
I think the biggest reason for us wanting to do this was trying to give
farms another option. Trying to tell them, “Look, you got prime land,
why not try to do both?” We’d love to see farms contribute to our
state environmental goals, greenhouse gas reduction, renewable
energy goals. We’d love to see them be part of it and get a diverse
income stream.
I think at the bare minimum it would need to either offset or displace
whatever the current vegetation management program costs are. I
don’t think I really expect them to necessarily make money off of it,
but if it could eliminate or reduce some cost, that would be helpful.
On the other hand, you have these animals who need to be fed- they
come in and in a matter of weeks they can completely manage that
vegetation. So, it’s kind of a win–win for the farmers and the owners
of the powerplant. It offloads the need to manage that vegetation.
Considerations apart from revenue broadens the horizon of potential
benefits agrivoltaic projects can produce. Some participants explained
that the competitive edge resulting from local acceptance of a proposed
development can be more valuable than increased revenue. Participants
posited that forgoing economic optimum projects to better appease a
community by retaining relevant agricultural interests may increase
local acceptance of solar. For some developers, an agrivoltaic project
may be worthwhile if it simply facilitates the development process, as
indicated by discussions with three different developers with varying
levels of experience with agrivoltaics:
Doubtful about sizable earnings but interested in potential savings,
participants postulated that synergies derived from grazing animals
underneath the panels could save on operations & maintenance (O&M)
costs. While agrivoltaics aren’t perceived by participants to provide an
ensured revenue generation stream for solar companies, they are widely
considered by participants to be a money-saver, highlighting an op
portunity for dual use development to be a benefit rather than a burden.
One developer without experience in agrivoltaic projects explained that
the benefits could be manifold:
I don’t imagine Mr. rabbit farmer really contributing a lot in terms of
revenue to us, or even paying us. But I would hopefully, in this ideal
world, like to see that if we put together this mixed-use partnership
that helps both parties, that it helps us get through the development
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phase to build the project. I don’t think we would be in this because
we wanted to collect revenue from the farmer.
If we are doing practical mixed use in agricultural areas, I would love
to see some benefits in the development process, it would really
incentivize this type of project. So, maybe they help you in the
zoning approval process, or the interconnection process.
It might be a good negotiating point for the solar developer when
they’re talking to the township about all this at a preliminary stage.
They say “Hey, why don’t you give me a break on the property taxes
in return for co-locating or some kind of agrivoltaic situation.”
and risk were suggested as addressable through meaningful community
engagement and collaboration with stakeholders.
4.2.1. Retaining agricultural interests
The importance of local communities in determining the success of a
solar development is a major theme in the interview results. Participants
spoke from experience as they described instances in which their
development pursuits were halted by localized community resistance,
highlighting a key relationship between market success and public
attitude towards solar. Postulating about the potential for an agrivoltaic
project to increase social acceptance of solar, two different developers
expressed:
This potential advantage in the development process was discussed
by multiple participants as a “development selling-point.” Agrivoltaics
are regarded by participants as an approach to development that can
leverage local interests strategically to cultivate advantageous commu
nity relations and build a positive reputation. Agrivoltaic development
may generate branding and marketing benefits, as two policy experts
expressed:
Some community benefits might be useful. So, it’s not necessarily a
monetary benefit, but this is where you could have something that’s
maybe less desirable from the community that a dual use might cause
people to be a little more accepting. I can see that as a potential
benefit.
There’s definitely a kind of public acceptance side of it that possibly
the mixed-use can be a benefit for.
There’s also the perception and the branding and marketing benefit,
right? So, “We are a solar developer that cares about land, farms,
local food, supporting local economies, and supporting farmers, and
we have a social mission.” Again, I’m speaking for some theoretical
developer that might want to be benefiting from the perception and
the reality of supporting local economies and local farms and local
production. I can imagine, I haven’t seen this, but “Hey, we graze
solar cows, we are making clean energy and we’re making organic
food” or whatever. So, a branding perspective from both the farmer’s
point of view, but probably also from the developers saying, “We are
good local citizens, and we’re doing good.”
Its more about competition. So increasingly, businesses, commu
nities, towns, big energy buyers, they weren’t just getting one pro
posal for solar, they were getting two or three or four, and they were
like, “Well I narrowed it down to these two developers, they’re both
in roughly the same price range, which one do I like more?…Which
one’s going to make our company look better? Which one is going to
make our brand look better?” So, it was a competition as people were
looking to have additional environmental attributes that were fairly
cheap.
Multiple participants discussed the strategic appeal of leveraging an
agrivoltaic project to preserve the agricultural function of land, aiming
to uphold local interests in order for a solar system to be realized in that
community:
These are towns [where] really farming is their pride and joy, and I
think they feel like, “Hey, we’ve been seeing these things go into the
ground and cover it up, if this is something that can actually keep
agriculture alive and well, let’s give it a try.”
You’re going to get at least some more cooperation from people who
really want to see their farm survive, and they realize that a system
like this can provide them with a diverse income, not just for agri
culture but for the dollars that can be made on the electrical gener
ation side.
By retaining local agricultural interests rather than threatening
them, participants foresee agrivoltaic projects as being in a critical po
sition nested in local values and community acceptance. Representing a
righteous way to change the narrative about solar development, two
developers explain how agrivoltaics may better appeal to agricultural
communities:
Participants explained that changing the narrative about solar, to
include the above benefits of agrivoltaics, may help shift public per
ceptions towards support for local developments. Existing at an impor
tant nexus between market and community dimensions of acceptance,
agrivoltaic projects are viewed by participants as capable of producing
savings on O&M costs, generating revenue for farmers, creating
advantage in the development process, and establishing a positive brand
reputation.
The market opportunities and barriers identified by participants
illustrate that this dimension of acceptance is inclusive of the other two
dimensions, being intricately tied to community relations and the local
permitting process. The interlinkages among the dimensions of social
acceptance are further detailed in subsections 4.2 and 4.3 and identify
the most notable opportunities and barriers for agrivoltaic development
as discussed by industry professionals.
By being able to come into that community and say, “Hey, we’re not
only doing the clean renewable energy portion of this, but we’d also
like to provide a little bit more of an economic background and crop
yield improvement.”
You need to tell the story in a better way, which is, “this is good for
the farmer, this is good for you the consumer because we’re making
low-cost power, it’s renewable and we’re doing what we can to
impact climate change.”
By design, the objective of an agrivoltaic project is to generate both
electricity and agricultural products on the same plot of land, which
solar industry professionals perceive as an advantageous alternative to
conventional development practice in agricultural communities. The
ability to preserve local values in solar development by retaining the
agricultural function of land through an agrivoltaic installation was
identified by participants as the most notable opportunity. Capable of
increasing community acceptance, participants expect agrivoltaics to
play an important role in future solar endeavors, especially in places
where development may be perceived as a threat to agricultural interest.
4.2. Community acceptance
The potential for an agrivoltaic project to retain local community
interests and consequently increase support for a proposed development
emerged as the most significant opportunity solar industry experts
perceive of co-locating solar and agriculture. Linked to the market
dimension of acceptance, community acceptance legitimizes market
player’s development pursuits as participants explained that public
perceptions towards solar are a pivotal determinant of project success.
The market barriers identified by participants align with the community
opportunities they discussed, in which issues associated with complexity
4.2.2. Community relations
Participants discussed a notable trade-off between the effort invested
in community outreach and the payback in terms of enhanced com
munity relations. The time and energy devoted to stakeholder engage
ment can have potentially huge returns, as one developer with
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experience in dual use development explains:
therefore frequently referred to the importance of gaining community
acceptance and establishing beneficial partnerships. Speaking of the
consequence of policy on solar development, developers and policy
experts explained:
Just having that support and making sure that you’re making those
local connections at the community level is- I cannot harp on how
crucial that is because without the local buy-in and approval your
project is going nowhere.
If I were to show up at a town hall meeting trying to sell this idea of
having a dual use system in that community, it’s going to be a lot
more believable coming from somebody from that town that is
supportive of it, or a third liaison that is an expert in agriculture or
whatever it may be. Rather than myself, who no matter how much
background and expertise I have in it and drive to make it happen,
I’m still the developer in the room. So, getting those third parties
involved is really crucial because they are seen, and they are the true
experts.
We just do not have the environment right now at the regulatory
state level that allows that type of development.
They can stop a project, no matter how good it could be, just being
local. Local rule is big in our state, and we have cities and towns,
after their first experience, some people in the towns are strong
enough politically to now write by-laws that say, “No more largescale projects, you can’t do anything over 100 kW, that’s it, we’re
done, we’re tired of seeing this land get covered up with solar
panels.”
There definitely is a community element to it. Because your neigh
borhood and your community, both in the local and state level, have
a lot of sway in the process. They can shut down your zoning
permitting, they can shut down your building permitting.
Solar professionals spoke of the absolute importance of community
relations in development, explaining that local partnership opportu
nities are invaluable and potentially accretive to the long-term growth of
the solar industry. One policy expert suggests this importance:
As the policies that are impeding solar on agricultural land are a
product of past community decisions and reflect local values, many
participants asserted that engaging communities in project development
can positively influence attitudes and regulatory environments to
accommodate, rather than restrict, solar. Participants speculated that
agrivoltaics present an opportunity to reinvigorate local policy to be
more accepting of solar, as agricultural interests are deliberately upheld
rather than threatened in dual use development. Giving a project “per
sonality,” as articulated by one solar developer, can provide a project
that would otherwise be met with regulatory hurdles, support from local
communities.
Participants discussed how communities may strategically use agri
voltaic systems to allow for solar development while simultaneously
preserving agricultural land. For communities that want to increase
their solar generating capacity yet strongly value their arable land,
different policy experts identified an opportunity for agrivoltaic in
stallations to be leveraged as a sort of development stipulation:
[We are] trying to always be candid with helping solar developers
realize that the biggest benefit is that they as developers will have a
local partner.
Participants commonly identified community engagement as a
worthwhile investment of their resources during the development
phase. By stimulating local relationships founded upon preservation of
agricultural land, participants see agrivoltaic projects as an opportunity
to meaningfully engage communities and uphold their values. While
increasing complexity during the design phase, deliberate community
and stakeholder engagement may be important element of agrivoltaic
development, as one policy expert explains:
If you have a farmer who’s got to work under these panels on a dayto-day basis, then you really need to be thoughtful and invest a lot of
time upfront on thinking about how that’s going to work and how the
farmer will continue to be able to farm at some level, while your
panels are making power.
Counties have ordinances and they say, “Well we have X amount of
prime farmland in our county and so we want that land use to be
beneficial, and so we will approve your solar project, but we want it
to be pollinator friendly.”
Is it more just that a community wants both of these things? They
want the solar and they want to have an opportunity to do some local
farming or gardening- and placing the two in the same place makes it
possible for them to do both. It certainly seems feasible.
When you start to introduce things like dual use and try to bridge this
really difficult niche with solar and agriculture industries, this whole
dual use concept, it’s typically a lot of times at the requests of that
community.
Despite the increased effort needed to foster worthwhile community
relations, participants understand from experience the importance of
local partnership in solar development. While the complexity may
represent an added barrier, the opportunity for enhanced relationships
was identified by participants an important part of agrivoltaic devel
opment that may be consequential in community acceptance.
For the case of agrivoltaics, participants of this study revealed that
community acceptance is fundamental to successful development.
Existing at a nexus between market and socio-political dimensions of
social acceptance, the community dimension of agrivoltaic development
was identified as the critical link between market adoption of the
technology and favorable local regulatory environments. By purpose
fully retaining local agricultural interests in project development, par
ticipants see the potential for agrivoltaics to increase community
acceptance of solar as the greatest opportunity.
Participants suggested that there may be an opportunity for agri
voltaic projects to become the prevailing norm of solar development in
communities with conflicting land use interests. Through preservation
of local agricultural interests, participants discussed that agrivoltaics
may be an impetus to revise local policies that currently restrict or
prevent solar development on agricultural lands, given they meet con
ditions set forth by the community. Majority of solar professionals
posited that the two-fold objective of agrivoltaic systems could consid
erably soften localized opposition to solar, therefore capable of stimu
lating the design of local policies that are intentionally supportive of
solar development.
Participants communicated that the socio-political acceptance of
agrivoltaics is directly related to local regulatory environments. More
specifically, the socio-political factors of agrivoltaic development
described by participants are tied to local zoning bylaws, identifying a
barrier to be addressed to increase acceptance along this dimension.
While predominantly discussed by participants as barriers to solar
4.3. Socio-Political acceptance
In the context of solar development, local regulatory environment
was the aspect of socio-political acceptance most identified by partici
pants. Drawing upon the significance of community acceptance, par
ticipants described how public attitude and the localized policies that
have implications on solar projects are linked. Participants illustrated
how community acceptance implies the existence of local zoning bylaws
that are favorable of solar development, indicating that socio-political
acceptance is embedded within the community dimension of social
acceptance of agrivoltaics. Absent of supportive local policy, partici
pants expect agrivoltaic development to encounter challenges and
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Energy Research & Social Science 75 (2021) 102023
development, the identified socio-political factors reveal opportunity to
leverage local interests in project design to increase community accep
tance and consequently encourage supportive local policy for
agrivoltaics.
matter with social components, providing new insight into opportunities
and barriers beyond technical and economic dimensions. This research
holistically explores the various dimensions of acceptance related to the
emerging agrivoltaic innovation, exemplifying how the in
terconnections between them may be aligned to increase social accep
tance and dual use solar development.
Table 2 below provides an overview of key findings and recom
mendations that emerged from interviews with 14 solar industry pro
fessionals. Each finding identifies opportunities for building the market,
community, and socio-political framework needed to actualize agri
voltaics. These results are based primarily on solar industry pro
fessionals’ perspectives and thus do not represent the opinions of the
general public. The recommendations stated in Table 2 are aimed at a
broad coalition of stakeholders, including solar developers, policy
makers, municipal land use planners, and local governments interested
in pursuing agrivoltaics. Table 3 (see Appendix) presents representative
quotes around significant themes that surfaced during interviews.
Themes are organized in descending order of relevance based on the
data and are aligned with the three dimensions of social acceptance.
5. Discussion: Social acceptance of agrivoltaics
This research adds to an existing literature on the social acceptance
of renewable energy by cataloging what industry professionals perceive
to be the market, community, and socio-political dimensions shaping the
opportunities and barriers associated with agrivoltaics. Results indicate
that alignment among all three dimensions of acceptance will determine
successful adoption of agrivoltaics; community acceptance was identi
fied as the critical link bridging market adoption and socio-political
factors, as community support can lead to advocacy and implementa
tion of socio-political conditions like favorable policies that promote
profitable development. Findings also suggest that agrivoltaics are
potentially accretive to the solar industry, possessing the capacity to
shift public perceptions and local policy towards support for solar de
velopments. Although concerned about developmental complexity,
study participants expressed that the agrivoltaic innovation may be key
in retaining agricultural interests, consequently fostering local accep
tance. Interview findings also cast light on the barriers to agrivoltaic
development and identify opportunities to harmonize land use for both
energy and agricultural purposes.
While essential, research that focuses solely on the technical aspects
of agrivoltaics will ultimately be constrained by social factors related to
project implementation. This study emphasizes agrivoltaic development
as a social matter with technical components rather than a technical
5.1. Market Acceptance: Motives for agrivoltaic development
Previous research regards agrivoltaics as an opportunity to establish
a dual-revenue stream for involved parties [12], yet the participants in
this study expressed disinterest in profit, which they perceived as
negligible, and instead spoke of the benefits beyond finance. Partici
pants generally agreed that agrivoltaic projects may stimulate commu
nity acceptance of solar, easing the development process, which is
perceived as a motivator equal to added revenue. Put another way,
Table 2
Overview of key findings and recommendations.
Theme
Major Finding
Recommendation
Relevant
Actors
Complexity
Agrivoltaic projects are considered complex and requiring extra
effort to actualize, including added layers of intricacy in system
design and increased coordination with stakeholders.
Offer financial incentive to solar companies pursuing agrivoltaics to
ease the burden of increased developmental complexity.
Safety and
liability
Safety hazards to people and livestock and potential for damage to
electrical equipment is concerning to developers and investors.
Prior to commissioning, design a contract between involved
stakeholders that protects against risk and establishes liability. Model
contracts off established wind developments on farmland.
Economic
profitability
Solar developers can save on O&M costs by accommodating grazing
animals; farmers can receive revenue from a contracted vegetative
maintenance service.
Develop a mutually beneficial business model that supports both
parties financially, drawing insight from existing agrivoltaic projects
in the U.S.
- State
government
- Local
government
- Solar
developer
- Solar
developer
- Farmer
- Third party
insurer
- Solar
developer
- Farmer
Non-monetary
benefits
Enhanced reputation, competitive advantage, and ease in the
permitting process are potential opportunities for solar developers.
Pursue development in a manner that purposefully upholds local
values to enhance marketability and attitudes towards solar.Provide
solar companies an expedited permitting process if undertaking an
agrivoltaic project.
Community
acceptance
Agrivoltaics can leverage local agricultural interests to elicit
community support for development.
Prioritize local interests in project development by designing systems
that are locally appropriate through incorporating existing
agricultural practices.
Local
partnerships
Agrivoltaic projects can strengthen community relations.
Invest resources in stakeholder engagement and pursue meaningful
partnerships to improve the development process.
Policy
Local zoning ordinances can be used to support or restrict solar
development, especially development on prime farmland.
Revise local bylaws to accommodate solar on farmland, including
provisions for retaining the agricultural function of land in PV system
development.Develop state zoning enabling laws that explicitly
preempts local solar restrictions in favor of agrivoltaic development.
8
- Solar
developer
- Local
community
- Local
government
- Solar
developer
- Local
community
- Farmer
- Solar
developer
- Farmer
- Local
community
- Local
government
- State
government
- Policy makers
A.S. Pascaris et al.
Energy Research & Social Science 75 (2021) 102023
participants deem community relations as advantageous to project
completion and suggest that there is value in, and motives for, agri
voltaic projects beyond economic returns.
The findings from this study suggest that the market dimension of
agrivoltaic acceptance is the most relevant and complicated, being in
clusive of community and socio-political factors and consequential for
successful technology adoption among developers. From the perspective
of participants, market opportunities of agrivoltaics are directly linked
to benefits such as retaining local interest, establishing community
partnerships, and ultimately increasing local acceptance of a develop
ment, suggesting that future research should focus further on this market
dimension. Specifically, the value of agrivoltaic development needs to
be investigated and quantified beyond simple economic rates of return,
including its potential for job creation and investment in host commu
nities [75].
5.3. Socio-Political Acceptance: Local regulatory environments
Prior research demonstrates the consequential role policy plays in
solar development [78,79]. Policy can operate as either a barrier or an
opportunity for agrivoltaics. Conversations with solar developers reveal
that successful development is contingent on local regulatory environ
ments, suggesting that policy exists at the nexus between local attitudes
and project realization. In fact, a few solar developers explained that in
response to unfavorable policy, they no longer pursue ground-mounted
solar systems and are especially restricted from development on agri
cultural land. Policies that impede solar on agricultural land reflect local
opposition to development but suggest an opportunity for agrivoltaics.
This assertion is based both on insight from participants and from the
nature of lawmaking in the U.S., specifically local level zoning. Many
states [80] grant clear participation rights to citizens during the devel
opment of local land use laws and permit review process, in which the
general public can express support or opposition for a proposed devel
opment and insist on specific outcomes. Given that local governments
and zoning boards include members of the relevant community and
provide a forum to incorporate the views of the public, citizen attitudes
towards a development are considered critical with regard to the
establishment of policies that shape the local regulatory environment
around solar energy.
The role of policy in agrivoltaic development suggests the power of
local regulation as an opportunity rather than a barrier if local stake
holders can appreciate the added value of dual-use solar. Interviewees
noted minimized land impacts and preservation of farmland as
commendable advantages that could alter perceptions about develop
ment. State and local governments interested in increasing solar
generating capacity and harnessing dual use benefits should design
financial incentives to explicitly encourage agrivoltaics as well as ease
regulatory burdens for agrivoltaic deployments. Governments could, for
example, ensure that all agrivoltaic systems within their jurisdiction
continue to be zoned and taxed agriculturally, given they maintain the
agricultural function of the land. Future work is needed to determine the
impact of such tax policy on PV system economics. Similarly, a short tax
holiday could be used as an incentive to deploy agrivoltaics and thus
maintain local agricultural employment on the land. This may be
particularly appropriate where additional capital costs are needed for
agrivoltaics (e.g. extra fencing for pasture fed rabbit-based agrivoltaics).
At the state or federal level, feed-in tariffs can be used by regulators to
encourage agrivoltaic development by providing long-term investment
security to solar developers that specifically pursue agricultural colocation. In addition, energy policy that centers on energy sovereignty
may be beneficial to agrivoltaic deployment. This type of energy policy
promotes community level decision making about the sources, scales,
and forms of ownership that characterize the energy services system
[81]. Agrivoltaics can represent a means for communities to obtain
energy sovereignty and can be coupled with initiatives for energy sov
ereignty such as those policies that support community solar projects
[82].
Future research on the socio-political dimension of agrivoltaics
should include an investigation into policy mechanisms that could
incentivize the development of dual use solar projects. To leverage the
power of local ordinances in solar development, future work should
explore the potential for policy to act as both an incentive and a re
striction- allowing solar development on farmland, for example, only if
it meets set standards for an agrivoltaic system. Future investigations of
socio-political barriers to agrivoltaics should determine the diversity of
challenges present in various regions of the U.S., identifying contextspecific distinctions that can provide regionally relevant insight to ac
tors interested in dual-use development, especially regarding state and
local level policy variations. Moving forward, addressing the sociopolitical concerns of agrivoltaic development will require a discrete
focus on localized energy policy that is targeted at restricting solar on
farmland.
5.2. Community Acceptance: Retaining local values
As demonstrated by Wolsink’s [76] U-curve of local acceptance, the
lowest levels of acceptance are observed during the siting phase of RE
development. This insight implies that efforts to align projects with
community values should be concentrated on the siting and planning
phases of a solar project. Interviewees spoke about the siting phase as a
particularly pivotal point in project development. In many cases, de
velopers recalled instances where local resistance during the siting
phase completely halted projects from moving beyond conversation to
construction. Based on warnings from developers and previous research
[38], stakeholder engagement during the siting phase is key for reducing
conflict and should therefore be seen as requisite for successful agri
voltaic development.
Agrivoltaic projects necessitate sensitivity to local nuances, interests,
and values. Increased focus on retaining local identity through stake
holder engagement in agrivoltaic development may be effective in
achieving community acceptance. Literature that discusses the role of
place-based identities and attachments in social acceptance of renew
able energy [77] maintains that projects that represent local commu
nities are expected to have higher levels of support. The findings of this
study suggest that agrivoltaics are an opportunity to connect solar de
velopers with farming communities in a way that is rooted in local
values.
While this study demonstrates that its participants believe that local
partnerships are significant to agrivoltaic acceptance, it simultaneously
demonstrates that community outreach includes increased time and
effort. Participants explained that actualizing the benefits of agrivoltaic
systems has clear trade-offs. Relationships, a positive reputation, and
ultimately community support for solar come at the price of time and
effort, but the expense is considered worthwhile. Ultimately, the po
tential for agrivoltaics to increase local acceptance of solar will depend
on the developer’s ability to incorporate local interests in the project
design.
Designing agrivoltaic projects that consider the production of energy
and food as equally important can ensure that future food production
capacity is maintained and may provide a tool for community engage
ment and community acceptance. By considering case studies in which
agrivoltaic development has been successful versus cases in which it has
failed, future research may support forthcoming agrivoltaic initiatives
by identifying challenges across various contexts. Similarly, future
research should examine case studies that exemplify how stakeholder
engagement successfully improved the agrivoltaic development process
so that the opportunities and challenges of participatory planning and
procedural justice in dual use projects may be ascertained. Drawing
from previous studies that investigate public perceptions of various
energy technologies [35,36,46,50], future work on agrivoltaics could
compare both public and stakeholder attitudes towards different types
of agrivoltaic applications, such as crop versus livestock production.
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Energy Research & Social Science 75 (2021) 102023
5.4. Implications for decision making
while increasing solar generating capacity. This potential to increase
local acceptance of solar gives both developers and policymakers reason
to design public participation models and policy measures that support
agrivoltaic development. These findings can help land use planners,
solar developers, and municipal governments make informed decisions
that strategically integrate agriculture and solar, and in turn provide
multiple benefits including the retention of agricultural land, local
economic development, and broad adoption of solar energy
technologies.
Taking an inductive approach to research means allowing the con
ceptual themes and argument to emerge from the empirical data rather
that applying a framework to the analysis of those data. In this research,
an inductive approach reveals that solar industry professionals are
focused on how agrivoltaics can shift the social acceptance of solar en
ergy development, providing “projects with personality” that local
communities may be more likely to support as they generate multiple
local benefits that align with community priorities. However, they also
acknowledge the complexity of these projects, particularly the
complexity of working and navigating regulatory regimes across two
different sectors (energy and agriculture).
This complexity becomes especially salient in the grounded context
of decision making for agrivoltaic development. The study presented
here is part of a larger interdisciplinary, multi-method project, and other
work associated with the larger project [30] suggests that agricultural
industry professionals are thinking about very different issues regarding
the opportunities and barriers associated with agrivoltaics. Perhaps
understandably, they did not discuss how agrivoltaics could support
solar development by promoting social acceptance. Rather, they raised
concerns associated with the adoption and diffusion of technological
innovations, such as market potential and ease of integration into
existing land management regimes and farming practices. They also
raised concerns about the desire for fair and just compensation and
about the potential impacts on long-term land productivity.
The different opportunities and barriers raised by these two different
groups of actors highlights the potential for complex interactions in
agrivoltaics decision making. If actors come to the table with divergence
in their motivations, their concerns, and what they view as the oppor
tunities and barriers, it may be more difficult for them to work together
and ensure that each group has their needs and priorities addressed. By
revealing the divergence in these two groups, this larger study can help
both groups of actors better understand the other so that they have a
foundation for working together on agrivoltaic decision making.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department
of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
under the Solar Energy Technology Office Award Number DEEE0008990.
Disclaimer:
This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an
agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States
Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes
any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or re
sponsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any infor
mation, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its
use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any
specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trade
mark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or
imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United
States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of
authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the
United States Government or any agency thereof.
6. Conclusion
7. Appendix.
To address global demands for both food and energy, the relationship
between critical land uses must become complementary rather than
competitive. Because social acceptance of renewable energy technology
is pivotal to energy transitions, this study reflects a proactive attempt to
understand agrivoltaics from a solar industry professional’s perspective
to better understand the significant opportunities and barriers to
development. This research suggests that agrivoltaics are potentially
accretive to the solar industry, possessing the capacity to increase social
acceptance of local solar developments. While the agrivoltaic concept is
widely supported by the participants in this study, popularity of an
emerging technology among industry experts may not indicate local
level acceptance of a specific development. As new energy technologies
such as agrivoltaics transcend niche applications to become more
prevalent, localized resistance is to be anticipated and the dimensions of
social acceptance, including the opportunities and barriers associated
with each dimension, can help inform decision making to enhance the
growth of agrivoltaic development.
This study found that solar industry professionals perceive the po
tential for an agrivoltaic project to retain agricultural interests and
consequently increase local support for development as the most sig
nificant opportunity of dual use solar. This indicates that solar de
velopers can play an active role in cultivating social acceptance of
agrivoltaics through public engagement. The results further reveal the
interconnections among the various dimensions of social acceptance and
suggest that the growth of agrivoltaics is contingent on market adoption
of the technology through community acceptance and supportive local
regulatory environments. Ultimately, agrivoltaic projects present an
innovative opportunity to preserve the agricultural function of land
Initial interview protocol as approved by IRB.
1.
a.
b.
c.
d.
2.
a.
b.
c.
3.
a.
b.
c.
d.
4.
a.
b.
5.
10
Please tell me about the solar development decision making process:
How does the process start?
How does the process proceed?
Who is involved in the process?
What are some of the most important factors that shape whether or
not a project will be successful?
For solar developers only:
At what scale do you develop?
How do you take care of vegetation management?
How much do you spend per year on vegetation management?
Can you tell me about your experiences or perceptions of mixed use
solar development, where solar PV is sited in a way that is used for
multiple purposes? (e.g. agrivoltaics)
Do you have experience with this kind of development? (If so, please
tell me about that experience)
What are your perceptions of this kind of development?
What do you think are the biggest opportunities for mixed use solar
development?
What do you think are the biggest barriers for mixed use solar
development?
Are you familiar with solar farms hosting grazing animals?
If so, what are your thoughts on this?
What is needed to make this idea more attractive to you?
A recent study has shown substantial economic opportunity for
rabbit agrivoltaics. The Department of Energy has sponsored this
A.S. Pascaris et al.
Energy Research & Social Science 75 (2021) 102023
Table 3
Significant themes and participant quotes.
Dimension
Theme
Barrier
Opportunity
Market (4.1)
Complexity
1. The nature of it right now, it is pretty complicated. We take on a
lot of risk and complexity operating projects like this.
2. For me it’s a complexity and a headache and I don’t want to deal
with it.
3. I think when you start to do mixed use projects you create a lot
more complications.
4. We attempted to see if we could make that happen, but the sheep
farmer requirements were- there was a lot of effort and costs
involved to make that happen, so we weren’t able to do that.
1. The point of building solar right now is to drive the price down
such that it’s cheaper than fossil fuel, and you want to build more
of it. So, to me, you want a big square site with nothing else on it
and no complications and you want to drive the cost as low as
possible to get it built.
2. We’re not moving forward with agrivoltaics in that particular
area due to multiple cost constraints.
3. There is some upfront capital, the first couple of years are upfront
costs- you want to be able to know that those costs are going to
die down with time and you’ll be able to see some long-term
savings from a vegetation management perspective.
4. Economics is first and foremost, because ultimately, you’re not
going to be able to get buy-in from all of the teams internally from
the development side if it doesn’t pencil financially.
1. Adding another layer is just going to increase complications. But
you know, if it is something the client wants, we don’t really care.
2. We’re kind of becoming more familiar and aware of having to add
this into our daily process, especially if we’re going to be doing
more ground mounted systems.
Economic
profitability
Operations &
Maintenance
1. If that state naturally has very low vegetative maintenance
average costs, like the cost to mow and herbicide and things like
that are already super low, you’re going to have a really tough
time convincing an O&M provider that having animals on site is
going to be cheaper and more cost effective because ultimately,
unfortunately, it always comes down to cost.
2. So it’s really finding a dual use that has little cost impact and little
maintenance impact or somehow reduces maintenance
3. Many times, you’re still paying just as much to have a farmer
graze sheep as you are on just somebody using the mower.
4. 4. Sheep aren’t always…they’re not really interested in the
weeds. They’re interested in the grass. So, weeds still become a
problem. You still need some kind of manual mechanical
maintenance of sites, even when you do have grazing animals.
Risk, Safety,
Liability
1. Safety would be one of the potential barriers that whoever was
going to use the site would be able to do so in a safe manner
without getting hurt.
2. We definitely have looked into all that and tried to get our
investors to consider those ideas and we have not been successful.
Mostly for those liability reasons.
3. What I know is that today, there’s no banker or insurance
company that’s going to ensure or finance a project where there’s
a combine driving around under solar panels.
4. Basically, the idea here is someone gets in there, damages the
array or gets hurt because they’ve touched something- making
this huge investment that folks acquired something that is now an
issue.
1. 1. If we were to bring in somebody like that, we would probably
not be looking for a share of revenue per se, but maybe a payment
to help defray some of our own lease costs.
2. Farmers, particularly small farmers, are struggling in many areas.
So, the attractiveness of another revenue stream, even if that
means sacrificing some land to grow, they could potentially make
more money off of the solar revenue than they could off of the
broccoli or whatever.
3. I don’t think we would be in this because we wanted to collect
revenue from the farmer, like I don’t want a portion of his
revenue or profit.
4. The increase in revenue, that’s huge. I think having those
components- you have solar, which is going to save money as far
as electricity rates or energy savings, and then you have an
increased revenue maybe with the [livestock] as well.
5. The cost is really a wash and more and more it’s about
competition and it’s about big players in the market that know
how to do beautiful projects, and know how to promote them,
and that’s moving other companies.
6. Things like planting a different seed mix or grazing or using a
different type of vegetation management, are kind of like a drop
in the bucket in terms of overall project costs. But ultimately you
want to be able to pencil that into your project to be able to see a
long-term savings.
7. Watering the crops could be somehow combined with cleaning
the solar arrays as part of the same process that makes the cost of
doing the two less than if they were done individually or
something.
8. We could show people that, “Hey this can be on a piece of land
and we can grow a high value crop and bring a lease payment to
the farmers. It’s a double value to them and therefore, we should
do more of this.”
9. If this does work out, and we do have these sites and this is a cash
positive crop like it could be, this could have a financial business
portion of it.
1. It should reduce with time, those vegetation management costs,
because you’re not going to have to go out there with mechanical
mowers every so often.
2. 2. Most likely in any given scenario with whatever type of
alternative vegetation management you’re working with, the first
couple of years are probably going to be a bit of a higher cost. And
then those costs typically reduce with time once the upfront
equipment and stuff it is covered.
3. When those O&M providers are having to travel a bunch, have
higher costs, different sizes of sites, just the whole list factors,
then that’s where you’re probably going to have a better chance
of having some type of alternative vegetation management, A.K.
A. an animal.
4. The fact that you could figure something out that can be a saving,
you know, a $500 a month check to mow- that money could be
spent on something else that puts money in somebody’s pocket.
5. It would be less expense for grounds maintenance and hopefully
some benefit to the farmer.
1. We can provide information to the farmer about what is necessary
to keep the solar panels safe, but also get information from him on
what is necessary for [livestock] to kind of thrive in that
environment.
2. If somebody were to propose some kind of co-use, it would have
to have those things taken into consideration including security at
the site and the integrity of the site.
3. I think if the system is designed electrically correct, it’s grounded,
I don’t think you’re going to see a lot of animals get electrocuted
or shocked in any way.
4. I know that we have had talks about plants, and I could see our
investors getting some comfort level with that.
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11
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Energy Research & Social Science 75 (2021) 102023
Table 3 (continued )
Dimension
Community
(4.2)
Theme
Community
Acceptance
Community
Resistance
Local interests
and values
Socio-Political
(4.3)
Barrier
Opportunity
5. I just think there is too much potential for damage if you got big
equipment going down those isles.
6. Safety would be a big concern for us as well as the high voltage
that those projects operate at, making sure that people are safe.
7. If you want to do it with animals and livestock, you have to worry
about them eating wires or getting into somewhere that could kill
them, which is really bad for everyone.
1. It’s getting people to understand the exact purpose, that solar
does not take land out of agricultural use. And it needs to be
proven and shown that it does not, and it’s a decent use of space.
1. We started getting calls from farms, from just local people- people
don’t want things in their backyard, as well- really concerned
about our farmland being taken up by solar development. So, the
food versus fuel argument, “we’re losing valuable land.”
2. If you’re coming into an area that’s really unfamiliar with these
types of technologies, I think that it’s going to increase pushback.
3. People were calling us saying, “What are you doing? You can’t
just let these developments just start taking food away and
putting solar in!”
1. There have been instances where we want to develop on land
they’re using and that they valued, and they didn’t want to see it.
2. Even if the farmer is totally on board and the developer is totally
on board, the community gets to say, “this is not in keeping with
our community goals.”
Development
“selling-point”
1. We’re going to grow from 300,000 acres to 3,000,000 acres in the
next 10 years. And it’s not going to be bare ground, it’s not going
to be turf grass, you know?
2. They are realizing, “Crap, I don’t want to be the next
Blockbuster,” and Blockbuster is turf grass solar.
Local Partnerships
1. We’re not going to get to all of our climate action goals, especially
state renewable energy portfolio goals and things like that,
without some consensus and comradery between both the solar
industry and agriculture industry.
2. The solar industry itself, are they interested and willing to work
hand in-hand with farmers on what are more expensive almost
across the board, and complex installations?
Policy
1. Things related to land-use have started to change five years ago
and now especially, the conditions and restrictions are much
tighter. It is at the point where you cannot- there are ways- but it
1. Where I think it would be most helpful though, is in community
acceptance.
2. I see agrivoltaics, the various streams, whether its growing
vegetables or farm animals, as potentially accretive or helpful to
the growth and acceptance of solar. I think it’s positive.
3. I think this type of project or projects in general, whether it be
pollinators or livestock, are really cool. I think they kind of
reinvigorate what people want to see with renewable energy and
kind of a green future.
4. If you’re in more of the rural area that has livestock, then yeah, I
think it could probably reduce the pushback.
5. It really comes down to the developer. Do they want to be a good
neighbor, or do they want to push the project through?
1. If you are in an area, maybe that already has an existing livestock
history, maybe it’s better to kind of mix those uses together there.
If there’s other space, that maybe it requires more of the plants,
flowers, the fauna, flora, et cetera…. that it might make more
sense. I really just think it’s a context dependent kind of thing.
2. Local expertise is a huge factor. If there’s a farmer next door that
has a flock of sheep, it’s going to be pretty affordable and
economic to have sheep graze the solar farm. If a state has an
abundance of expertise in planting and establishing pollinator
habitat, it’ll be way more cost competitive compared to other
states that don’t have this expertise.
3. The general public, who might live adjacent to farms and know
farmers and want to support farmers, they would certainly want
to be involved in the vetting and design of any dual-use program.
1. It was a good selling point because we sold the project and the
competitor didn’t.
2. I imagine a situation like this for a company like us doesn’t help
us at all in terms of revenue, it helps us in terms of the
development.
3. That would be a great thing to be able to go to the communities
and describe an offer in conjunction with the PV.
4. In those areas where there are mixed-use opportunities, I think
maybe you present them with an opportunity to kill two birds
with one stone, for lack of a better phrase.
5. . I think it is a great idea and it might be the only way for ground
mount PV to survive or continue at least in some regions.
1. I think that’s where the main benefit is, in kind of a partnership to
help the development phase.
2. So as an electric utility, if we were to think about co-use, we
would be open to it but we would probably not do it ourselves
because it’s not a core part of our business, so we would happily
partner with somebody to do it on our site.
3. If you’re partnering with somebody else that has more local
roots…that might be a different story because the local story gets
broken down there.
4. Really understanding the land that you’re working with, and the
community you’re working with, and maybe the landowners
you’re working with, to kind of work what’s best for them. And
just getting a sense from them what the best use would be in
conjunction with the solar.
5. When we go to develop a solar facility, we are there to provide
clean energy to that community. And we work with that local
community to get to know them, what their needs are, provide as
much information as we can about renewable energy, specifically
solar and what benefits that will provide to their community. And
not only from a clean and renewable energy future, but also the
economic benefits for their community.
1. It just keeps ramping itself up and to the point where we now
actually have an incentive to put dual use in through a state solar
program, which is the first time we are able to do that.
(continued on next page)
12
A.S. Pascaris et al.
Energy Research & Social Science 75 (2021) 102023
Table 3 (continued )
Dimension
Theme
Barrier
Opportunity
is very difficult to put a large solar array on a parcel that is, has
been, or currently is being used for agriculture purposes.
2. We have a lot of people that are anti-renewable, in particular
solar, and have tried to legislate it off the farms. They changed
the zoning and the requirements such that it’s been really hard to
help a farmer out and put a small array on a farm to do a
community-based solar program.
3. Policy-wise, the fact that we are not developing ground mount
right now is driven by the policy changes.
4. There’s definitely a local regulatory process that kicks in and has
led to projects not being successful.
2. I only see a very few solar developers who are going in and
saying, “I’m going to do agrivoltaics, I’m going to do crops under
the panels, I’m going to do grazing.” It’s usually they’ve gotten
there because they’ve been forced to by government requirement
or they’ve been forced to because of the preference of one of their
customers.
3. A customer expressing a preference is a way to get that outcome
with a carrot, a government requiring it is a way to get to that
outcome with a stick. And both are really effective policy tools.
4. The bees or the sheep are examples of, “If you allow us to zone
this project, we will do this mixed-use thing to benefit the
community.”
Fig. 1. United States Regions (source: National Geographic Society).
a.
b.
c.
d.
study, which includes field tests on a solar farm in Texas that is
ongoing. Given that this is a novel concept, would you be willing to
answer some questions about mixed use solar involving farmed meat
rabbit? If yes:
What do you think are the biggest opportunities for this kind of
mixed use solar development?
What do you think are the biggest barriers for this kind of mixed use
solar development?
How much additional revenue per year would you need to see to
consider allowing rabbits on your solar site?
To install a rabbit farm additional fencing is needed along the base of
the PV arrays. What are thoughts about this additional expense and
what is your minimum acceptable rate of return (MARR) for the
added investment?
6. What do anticipate will be the primary siting challenges for agri
voltaic “solar farms”?
a. Would you anticipate an agrivoltaic farm helping you with zoning
and permitting?
7. Would you anticipate an agrivoltaic farm reducing community
pushback to solar development?
8. Is there anything else you’d like to tell me about your perspectives of
mixed-use solar PV development- in general or combined with meat
rabbit farming?
9. Do you have suggestions of other experienced solar professionals I
should speak with?
13
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Energy Research & Social Science 75 (2021) 102023
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