AGRIVOLTAICS

Innovation benefiting farmers

 BACKGROUND: Agrivoltaics, from
concept to reality

A kuo launched its first project in agrivoltaics (initially

called Agrinergy) in 2007 on the island of Reunion.
Like many island territories, land use is primarily
allocated to agricultural production to meet the food
needs of local populations. What initially constituted
a constraint for the installation of photovoltaic panels
would ultimately become a vector of innovation: Akuo
thought of coupling agricultural and solar production
on the same land by creating positive synergies for
both. A new model was born!
The first plant based on this model to emerge on
the island was that of Pierrefonds, inaugurated in
2010, where the crops of many species of fragrant,
aromatic and medicinal plants were combined with
the production of solar energy by cleverly raising and
spacing the solar panels. The site still produces 80 kg of
rose geranium essential oil and 100 kg of lemongrass
essential oil each year, as well as 3,200 MWh of
solar electricity, equivalent to the annual electricity
consumption of 800 households. Another example, the
Cèdres site commissioned in and cultivated since 2016,
is a vast permaculture project combining vegetable
cultivation, breeding, arboriculture, transformation
into essential oil and photovoltaics. Organic farming
products are intended for the local market and have
led to the creation of several agricultural jobs. The
energy generated covers the electricity needs of
5,200 Reunion Island households.
Since then, more than 20 projects of this type have
emerged within the Akuo Group, in Réunion, New
Caledonia and continental France,
with a total installed capacity of more
than 150 MWp.

2
The Akuo model: technology
benefiting farmers

Agrivoltaic shade houses, anticyclonic photovoltaic greenhouses, trackers, water

management system... The technological solutions have been refined and adapt to
the needs of farmers, the crops and the specific operating conditions of the site.
Akuo can count on its partner agricultural consulting firm Agriterra, which ensures
that the technology used meets optimized sunshine and water supply conditions,
while protecting crops from climatic variations. This also applies to breeding farms,
protected from predators and heat.

Agriterra, Akuo’s exclusive

agricultural partner

Agriterra came into being with Pierrefonds’ first agrivoltaic project. The design office
has since developed expertise in setting up and supporting this type of project
in France and abroad. A farmer on 80 hectares, Agriterra was able to test the
different photovoltaic systems on multiple crops (vegetables, arboriculture, cereals,
aquaculture, livestock) in temperate and tropical climates. Today, Agriterra is Akuo’s
exclusive agricultural partner for all stages of an agrivoltaic project: from modelling
the agricultural project alongside the farmer to the field management of yields.

3
 Enabling a sustainable
agricultural transition

The agrivoltaics model promoted by Akuo preserves the

agricultural yields of the plot, while creating additional value
related to energy production. In addition to optimizing the
space generated, the financial flows generated by the
marketing of electricity make it possible to support and diversify
the agricultural activity carried out on the site. And, in some
cases, to make it competitive, to facilitate the transition to a
sustainable and agroecological production model, or to give
an economic boost to the farm by creating local jobs.

Making agriculture climate-resilient

Climate change is subjecting agriculture to strong pressures: degraded soils, droughts,

hailstorms, etc., all of which jeopardize farmers’ ability to feed societies. Akuo’s new
agrivoltaic practices make it possible to address each of these new phenomena and
thus reduce the risks of yield loss.

4
A solution to the looming water crisis?

The issue of water currently has a central place in our societies, and in agriculture in
particular. As a sector, agriculture is the leading consumer of freshwater resources in
France, accounting for 58% for the decade 2010-2020 (source: INRAE). And the trend is
upward as, over the last 5 years, withdrawals for agricultural irrigation have increased
by 22% while «drought» decrees have quadrupled (source: CRATER). Territories are
increasingly vulnerable in their management of surface water while, at the same
time, agriculture is increasing its level of dependence on water resources for irrigation.
As water is a limiting factor for agricultural production and a survival factor for the
population, the choice of crops and the use of water-efficient practices are part of
the response to mitigate the severity of this threat.

Key figures

+ than 20 + 150 MWc 50

agrivoltaics projects under of solar capacity different types of agricultural
construction and operational production (vegetables, fruits,
around the world cereals)

5
 Agrivoltaics according to Akuo

Farmers at the center of the project

By putting farmers at the heart of the

project and by offering training and support
throughout the partnership, Akuo guarantees
that farmers will keep control of their
production while being financially supported,
so that they can invest and absorb climate
variations and the volatility of agricultural
production prices. This is a fair return for the
agricultural world.

Continuous innovation

Since its invention, Akuo has constantly

developed the concept of agrivoltaics
in order to offer ever more efficient and
sustainable solutions. First-generation
agrivoltaics combines agriculture and green
electricity production via photovoltaic plants
on the ground. Crops are interspersed
between rows of solar panels. The second
generation is based on the superposition of
agricultural and solar production, by setting
up anticyclonic photovoltaic greenhouses.
The third generation combines an electricity
storage system with the power plant, allowing
optimal use of all the energy produced.

Facilitating the transition to

Generate citizen engagement
Agrivoltaics is a great opportunity to create
strong links with the host territory: training,
local job creation, sustainable and local food
production are all rhizomes that benefit the
community.
agroecology
Each project is designed in a global
and sustainable way. Value creation is
oriented towards the agricultural transition
by implementing resilient and, if possible,
organic and water-efficient practices. By
promoting the complementarity of species,
the soil remains cultivable and is continuously
enriched.

6

Water management
Photovoltaic structures significantly
reduce water consumption by limiting the
evapotranspiration phenomenon. Designed
to save this resource, some photovoltaic
structures can also collect rainwater, direct it
to a dedicated water storage infrastructure,
and then redistribute it to crops in an optimized
way via drip or micro-sprinkler systems,
depending on the crop.
An array of technologies
Reconciling agriculture and electricity
production must not create constraints for
either of the activities. It is therefore necessary
to identify which technology will best adapt
to ensure that agricultural and energy
production are mutually strengthened. To do
this, each photovoltaic system is designed
to benefit both productions. More than just
photovoltaic panels, some power plants are
real production tools that adapt to climate
conditions in real time.
7
 Co-construction benefiting farmers, the example
of the Sombernon project:

Located west of Dijon, the Sombernon project

(winner of the CRE EPP2 call for tenders of June
2023 – fifth period) provides for the installation
of tracker-type agrivoltaic shade houses on 54
hectares of land ‘with low agronomic potential’,
cultivated by four farmers (three of them in field
crops). Beyond strengthening the crop system
in place, an innovative rainwater harvesting
and irrigation system allows the introduction of
truffle production on 4 adjacent hectares. The
Sombernon project will be the first Akuo major
plant in trackers and field crops and the first of
this type and scale in France; construction will
begin in 2024.

The agrivoltaic project, beyond producing renewable electricity, aims to:

Reduce the water resource needs of crops through a panel-induced

reduction in evapotranspiration, allowing them to adapt to climate
change and in particular to periods of increasingly frequent
droughts;

Promote sustainable agricultural practices in particular by allowing

the conversion of part of the land to organic farming;

Secure and sustain the three farms with crop protection against
drought, agricultural investments supported by the project and the
payment of a financial allocation to farmers.

Akuo has been developing the Sombernon project with its agricultural partner Agriterra
since 2019. The Agriterra teams, in addition to adapting the design of the plant to
agricultural needs, have worked with farmers on the most suitable technical route in
terms of mechanization, irrigation, and crop behavior according to their tolerance to
shade and water stress.

8
The partner farmers

EARL Duthu, EARL des Crots and GAEC de Pargy are

the project’s three partner farms. Since 2019, Akuo,
Agriterra and the three farms have been working closely
together to maximize project synergies. The technology,
the spacing between the rows, the spacing at the end
of the row and the access paths have been designed
to meet their needs and facilitate exploitation of the
plots while respecting the technical and economic
constraints of the photovoltaic project. Eric Fevret,
former operator on these plots and owner of part of the
plots, also contributed to the project’s co-construction
to ensure their transferability to EARL Duthu.

It has always seemed interesting to me to be able to

produce energy on these low-profitability plots close to
Burgundy’s largest processor and to be able to combine
it with agriculture. Being close to retirement, it was
important for me to be able to transmit to a young farmer
the possibility of having land with an agrivoltaic project to
have a little more future and profitability from it.

Eric Fevret, agricultural partner of the project

I think photovoltaics are a good complement to grain

farming. Cohabitation between culture and energy is
essential for the future.

Julien Duthu, EARL Duthu operator

9
 Gaussan, seed democratization hub

Located near Narbonne, the Gaussan Abbey project is

part of the process to rehabilitate this former Cistercian
abbey, a marker of our history and our ancestral know-
how, to make it a real territory of experimentation for
rational and sustainable lifestyles, production and
consumption for tomorrow.
In May 2022, the place was endowed with a
conservatory of ancient seeds, mainly cereals but
also vegetable and arboreal varieties. These seeds
have been selected on the basis of healthy nutrition
(high nutritional quality) and resilience to climatic
variations thanks to the know-how of Roland Feuillas,
an engineer who has converted to milling and baking.
The conservatory, a real agronomic experimentation
station, makes it possible to explore these ancient
seeds’ resistance to climate change, so they can
eventually be offered to farmers who would like them.
This iconic project led by Akuo and Agriterra is the
embodiment of their commitment to go beyond the
simple production of solar electricity by activating
initiatives combining agriculture and energy, so as
to guarantee both food biodiversity and energy
independence.

10
11
 Akuo, Entrepreneurs by nature
Akuo is an independent global renewable energy
producer and developer. The Group is present across
the entire value: development, financing, construction
and operation. As of the end of 2023, Akuo had a total
capacity of 1.8 GW in operation or under construction
and a total project portfolio of over 20 GW. With more
than 450 employees, the Group, which is headquartered
in Paris, France, develops projects in more than twenty
countries around the world.

Press contact

Mila Averlant
Communications Manager
averlant@akuoenergy.com
+33 (0)1 47 66 09 90

For more information, please visit :

www.akuoenergy.com