Agrophotovoltaics is a relatively new area of sector-coupling for energy efficiency were land is used jointly for solar power generation and agriculture. In the latest example, the Ministry of the Environment for the southwestern German state of Rhineland-Palatinate is funding a project to research solar power production together with apple farming.

The principle, as described by the State Environment Minister Ulrike Höfken in the online journal SolarServer, is rather simple: "Harvesting solar power and apples from the same field.” She has greenlit funding of EUR 740,000 for the project which will contribute to making land use more resource-efficient.

The project specifically investigates the production of apples using a PV energy system alongside. The funding also covers the construction and research operation of an organic fruit farm in the district of Ahrweiler. It is hoped that the PV modules will actually protect the trees from increasingly-common extreme weather events caused by climate change. “The PV modules are at the same time protective roofs against hail and excessive solar radiation, so that there are further advantages in addition to the solar power produced,” says Höfken.
The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) will initiate the project. Other project partners are the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the Dienstleistungszentrum Ländlicher Raum, BayWa r.e. GmbH and Elektrizitätswerke Schönau GmbH. The principles of agrophotovoltaics can be carried over into other agricultural areas such as chicken farming.