The spatial potential for agrivoltaics to address energy-agriculture land use conflicts in Great Britain

Ground-mounted solar parks provide much needed low-carbon electricity, but their development is increasingly conflicting with other land uses, such as agriculture, and their visual intrusion on agricultural landscapes and possible impact on food production is causing increasing public concern. Agrivoltaics has been proven across Europe to produce food and electricity concomitantly, but its potential to alleviate land use conflicts in Great Britain is yet to be explored. This study quantifies the extent that existing solar parks overlap with different grades of agricultural land, and forecasts where PV-agriculture land use conflicts may occur in the future. Where agrivoltaics could alleviate these conflicts is determined based on expert stakeholder insights, revealing that this technology could theoretically generate 338 TWh/year while maintaining outputs from 20,272 km2 of high-grade farmland. Some agrivoltaic designs reduce evaporative water loss, and this study highlights where this would be beneficial for regions facing water scarcity. The spatial suitability of different cropland classifications is also shown. This study provides the first spatial assessment of the potential for large scale PV infrastructure to be developed in synergy rather than in conflict with agriculture in Great Britain.