EUKI Interview: The Win-Win Logic of Agrivoltaics
von Susanne Reiff, GIZ/EUKI
Most credible decarbonisation roadmaps place Europe’s rural regions at the heart of the climate transition. What that means for local farmers and why agrivoltaics seems to be a chance not to be missed is explained by Annalisa Corrado, Member of the European Parliament. She is part of the group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats and member of the Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Climate and Food Safety. She shared these ideas with the participants in the EUKI study tour in Brussels in June 2025.
Many people in rural areas feel overwhelmed and see the introduction or expansion of renewables as an extra burden on top of climate-related challenges rather than an opportunity. What is your message for them?
Fields, rooftops, barns and waterways can become renewable energy powerhouses. These are exciting prospects! However, the scale of the challenge our farmers face in terms of exposure to climate change and extreme meteorological events must always be part of the picture, particularly with regards to floods, droughts and heat waves. They also have to contend with soaring input costs and income volatility, all too often linked to distribution and unfair trade practices.
It is clear that farmers need tools to increase their climate resilience and open up new revenue streams rather than additional burdens and a mere consolidation of the status quo. I believe that agrivoltaics can be one of these useful tools.
Why is that so?
Considering that rural areas are the cradle of our food security and home to farmers, small and medium-sized agri-food enterprises and vital ecosystems, the question is not “Energy or agriculture?” but rather “How do we design energy systems that serve both agriculture and rural communities?”
Agrivoltaics embodies that win-win logic: one piece of land, two complementary harvests – nutritious crops beneath, clean electricity above. Well-designed installations can moderate extreme heat for growing fruit and vegetables, cut evaporation and improve soil moisture, effectively turning solar panels into climate adaptation infrastructure. Paired with pollinator-friendly ground cover or rotational grazing, they can even enhance biodiversity and animal welfare.
That sounds almost too easy. Which enabling ingredients are needed to fulfil this promise?
Farmers and project developers need clarity, meaning an EU-wide definition and quality standard for agrivoltaics, embedded in both the EU Common Agricultural Policy and national spatial planning rules. Revenues and savings must stay local as much as possible – through community benefit funds, lower tariffs for neighbouring households and municipal levies that turn renewables expansion into a visible rural dividend.
We also need more speed with stewardship. Renewable energy permitting deadlines are now shorter under the Renewable Energy Directive III, but local authorities need staff, digital tools and mediation skills to meet them while steering projects away from biodiversity hotspots and towards degraded or low-conflict land.
Such conflicts over
the location of
agrivoltaics are
quite common.
Which solutions do you advocate for?
Land-use choices are crucial. The recent Soil Monitoring Directive has established a clear hierarchy: avoid sealing healthy soils wherever possible, repurpose already sealed land or brownfields first, and, when solar installations are sited on farmland, ensure the soil remains alive and any sealing is reversible. Practices such as de-sealing, brownfield revitalisation and rational densification point the way to scaling renewable energy without eroding Europe’s most fertile acres.
Let’s not forget this: Developing agrivoltaics without compromising food output is entirely feasible and it is an opportunity we cannot afford to miss, for the sake of farmers and the resilience of our whole energy system.
Today’s discussions are about how to forge a new rural social contract – one which rewards farmers for stewardship, revitalises local economies and helps Europe meet its climate and food security goals.