Impacts of year-to-year weather variability and inter-panel spacing on agrivoltaic crop yields in Massachusetts

Doubleday, Kate; Oleskewicz, Kristen; Ovaitt, Silvana; Hickey, Thomas; Herbert, Stephen J.; Macknick, Jordan

doi:10.1007/s10457-025-01248-y

Impacts of year-to-year weather variability and inter-panel spacing on agrivoltaic crop yields in Massachusetts

Journal Article · Sun Jul 06 00:00:00 EDT 2025 · Agroforestry Systems

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-025-01248-y· OSTI ID:2574765

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National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA (United States)

Deployment of utility-scale solar power plants could lead to agricultural land-use changes. Agrivoltaics, a dual land use combining solar and agriculture on the same land, can provide multiple environmental benefits, including improving soil quality and water use efficiency. The body of agrivoltaic field data is still growing, and crop responses to different solar configurations under different local climates are highly varied. We investigate the impact of adding spacing between adjacent solar panels in a fixed-tilt system to improve light diffusion to crops. For four crops (broccoli, peppers, kale, Swiss chard) grown across 3 years in an agrivoltaic system in Massachusetts, we found that only kale had a linearly increasing trend as the inter-panel spacing increased from 0.6 m to 1.5 m (2 ft to 5 ft). However, there were significant year-to-year differences in the yield of agrivoltaic versus control fields. Agrivoltaic and full sun fields produced equivalent yields in a hot, dry year, whereas the full-sun control beds produced more salable yield for all four crops in a warm, wet year. This demonstrates variability of agricultural outcomes and the need for more multi-year studies to ensure agrivoltaic impacts are not under- or overestimated.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Solar Energy Technologies Office

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 2574765

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA--6A40-91238

Journal Information:: Agroforestry Systems, Journal Name: Agroforestry Systems Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 99; ISSN 1572-9680; ISSN 0167-4366

Publisher:: Springer Science and Business Media LLCCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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