Land use Prior to Installation of Ground-mounted Photovoltaic in Germany—GIS-analysis Based on MaStR and Basis-DLM

Böhm, Jonas; Witte, Thomas de; Michaud, Coline

doi:10.1007/s12398-022-00325-4

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…The use of PV renewable energy has been identified as a key strategy to reduce fossil fuel combustion while using a lower water footprint compared with other renewable energies (e.g., hydropower and bioenergy (Apollon et al, 2021). Utility-scale solar energy deployment, however, competes with food production and often reduces biodiversity (Allardyce et al, 2017;Barron-Gafford et al, 2016;Böhm et al, 2022). In this context, AV reduces the competition for land resources and with thoughtful management can enhance biodiversity compared with PV alone (Amaducci et al, 2018;Barron-Gafford et al, 2019;Feuerbacher et al, 2021;Laub et al, 2022;Schweiger & Pataczek, 2023;Weselek, Bauerle, Hartung, et al, 2021).…”

Section: Challenges and Potential Benefits Of Agrivoltaics: Balancing...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Conservation agrivoltaics for sustainable food‐energy production

Time,

Gomez‐Casanovas,

Mwebaze

et al. 2024

Plants People Planet

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Societal Impact StatementTransformative agricultural strategies like agrivoltaics (AV) are essential for addressing the pressing global issues of sustainable energy and food production in a changing climate. Conservation‐agrivoltaics (Conservation‐AV) provides the potential to meet these needs while reinforcing natural resources and protecting the environment. It could enhance the ecological benefits of AV by improving soil health and biodiversity. It could create economic opportunities for farmers and increase the resilience and diversity of food crops under changing climate conditions. Furthermore, it could inform stakeholders about the benefits and challenges of implementing conservation agriculture management practices (CAMP) in AV and encourage further exploration and adoption of this innovative approach.SummaryTransformative strategies in agriculture are needed to address urgent global challenges related to energy and food production while reinforcing natural resources and the environment. Agrivoltaics (AV) has emerged in the past decade as one solution to this fundamental challenge of improving energy and food security. AV is defined as the co‐location of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels and crops on the same land to optimize food and energy production simultaneously and sustainably. Here, we propose that AV, together with conservation agriculture management practices (CAMP) strategies can help to intensify food security and energy production while reinforcing natural resources and the environment. Our main assertions in this opinion article are that: (1) AV systems need to overcome several agronomical, environmental, and ecological challenges to intensify food and energy production sustainably; (2) CAMP applied to AV systems can preserve the environment and ensure climate‐resilient food production; (3) implementation of CAMP in AV can lead to long‐term carbon sequestration, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and maintain or increase crop yields while preserving soil health and biodiversity; and (4) adoption of CAMP in AV can bring economic benefits, although challenges need to be overcome. This opinion article proposes a new ecosystem approach to integrate renewable energy and sustainable food production and encourages research on the effects of CAMP on AV systems.

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Section: Challenges and Potential Benefits Of Agrivoltaics: Balancing...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Conservation agrivoltaics for sustainable food‐energy production

Time,

Gomez‐Casanovas,

Mwebaze

et al. 2024

Plants People Planet

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“…With the demand for renewable energy, the growth rates for ground-mounted photovoltaic (PV) on agricultural land are increasing (Böhm et al, 2022). Agriculturally used peatland can also be used for this purpose under certain conditions since the 2023 amendment of the Renewable Energies Act (EEG).…”

Section: Financing Requirementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unlocking the potential of peatlands and paludiculture to achieve Germany’s climate targets: obstacles and major fields of action

Wichmann,

Nordt

2024

Front. Clim.

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Greenhouse gas emissions from drained peatlands must be substantially reduced to meet climate mitigation targets. In Germany, annual peatland emissions of 53 Mt CO2e account for more than 7% of total national GHG emissions. Peatland drainage and reclamation is traditionally considered as a symbol of progress and technical achievement, where agriculture has been the major driver. In Germany, an area of 1.3 million ha of drained peatlands used for agriculture ought to be rewetted by 2050 to meet the 1.5°C target of the Paris Agreement. Paludiculture allows a productive use of wet peatlands instead of abandonment following rewetting. This approach might therefore pave the way for voluntary large-scale peatland rewetting. However, implementation remains scarce. The long history and large extent of peatland drainage has shaped the political and legal framework as well as perceptions and attitudes, thus impeding rewetting and climate-friendly peatland use. This policy and practice review investigates the political, legal, economic and social aspects that hinder the implementation in Germany and derives approaches to overcome multifold restrictions. Finally, three major fields of action are identified: (1) To increase and accelerate rewetting, a consistent peatland mainstreaming approach is needed that overcomes structural barriers and adapts the policy and legal framework, e.g., the Common Agricultural Policy, planning law, water law and nature conservation law. (2) To motivate for a rapid transition, a system of immediate, comprehensive and attractive positive incentives is needed. This should be accompanied by early announcement and gradual introduction of negative incentives to set a clear course and provide planning certainty for farmers and landowners. (3) A just transition depends on empowering local communities to develop and pursue perspectives tailored to their peatland region. Future research of peatlands as social-ecological systems can help to identify region-specific drivers for sustainable peatland management.

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“…This seems to provoke a trade‐off between a transformation in the global energy production via a large‐scale implementation of PV and global food security under accelerating, global climatic changes. This is exemplified in Germany, where more than 50% of conventional ground‐mounted PV were installed on previous arable land by 2018 (Böhm et al, 2022). This land‐use conflict is exacerbated with increasing population size and, thus, becomes especially relevant for regions such as India or Africa where the frequency and severity of drought events and population size increase at the same time (Dinesh & Pearce, 2016; Mahto et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How to reconcile renewable energy and agricultural production in a drying world

Schweiger

Pataczek

2023

Plants People Planet

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Societal Impact StatementRenewable energies such as photovoltaics can mitigate climate change by replacing fossil fuels, but they will compete with other forms of land use when implemented in open space. Agrivoltaics provide a promising approach to reconciling food and energy needs by allowing for agricultural and electrical power production on the same area of land. Agrivoltaics have a high potential to attenuate negative effects of drought on crop growth and, thus, can help to increase resilience of agricultural production under increasingly variable environmental conditions. This drought attenuation potential will be especially relevant for regions where drought and population growth co‐occur.SummaryWater scarcity is threatening food security and other, plant‐related ecosystem services. Renewable energy production provides a sustainable strategy to replace fossil fuel and, by this, mitigate climate change. However, common forms of renewable energy production such as photovoltaics in open space directly compete with agriculture. Agrivoltaics are proposed as a promising technology to reconcile food and energy needs by allowing for agricultural and electrical power production on the same area of land. However, general understanding of the potential of agrivoltaics to facilitate crop yield under changing climatic conditions is lacking. In this study we provide an overview on the effects of agrivoltaics on microclimate and crop growth and yields. We furthermore quantify the global potential of agrivoltaics to attenuate drought effects on crops and develop a conceptual framework for evaluating interactions between solar power and agricultural production under changing climatic conditions. Generally, shading by agrivoltaics will reduce yield in comparison to maximum possible yield under unshaded, well‐watered conditions but can reduce interannual variation in yields caused by drought, thus, increase resilience of agricultural production. This drought attenuation potential of agrivoltaics seems to be especially promising in the drought prone regions of the world. Land use efficiency of agrivoltaic systems is directly linked the degree of crop shading which covaries with the drought attenuation potential but will ultimately be guided by political decisions on how to weight energy production vs. food security. The latter depends on economic, societal and ecological aspects related to the implementation of agrivoltaics.

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Land use Prior to Installation of Ground-mounted Photovoltaic in Germany—GIS-analysis Based on MaStR and Basis-DLM

Cited by 6 publications

References 18 publications

Conservation agrivoltaics for sustainable food‐energy production

Conservation agrivoltaics for sustainable food‐energy production

Unlocking the potential of peatlands and paludiculture to achieve Germany’s climate targets: obstacles and major fields of action

How to reconcile renewable energy and agricultural production in a drying world

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