Solar Power vs Farmland: How Agrivoltaics Offers a Solution
At its core, farming and other forms of land cultivation are harvesting the energy of the sun through plants, to turn it into food and other useful organic products like wool, wood, leather, etc.
Recently, a new way to “farm” the power of the Sun has emerged with photovoltaic panels, directly converting sunlight into electricity. It has of course the potential to revolutionize our industrial societies, and could mark the beginning of a new era, as we discussed in “The Solar Age – A Bright Future To Mankind”.
Source: Grand View Research
And while we are far from having replaced all fossil fuel energy sources, the pace of change has been accelerating, notably thanks to China.
China has been ramping up its renewable energy capacity year on year, installing more solar power between 2023 and 2024 than the previous three years combined, and more than the total global capacity installed in 2023.
This has put the Asian giant on track to achieve an installed wind and solar capacity of 1,200 GW by the end of 2025, putting it six years ahead of the government goal.
However, the more solar power we produce, the more surface is required, as ultimately, solar energy is relatively low in density, needing massive surfaces to do what a gas, coal, or nuclear power plant can achieve on a smaller footprint.
This can put solar energy in a direct collision course with the traditional way of harvesting the sun: farming. And indeed, transforming crops and pastures, or cutting down forests to replace them with unproductive solar farms seems like a poor method of what should be an ecological/green technology.
It also creates increasing resistance from local residents, who often bemoan the esthetic of massive solar fields.
As solar generation grows, this tension between field and solar farms is likely to keep growing.
Luckily, agrivoltaics, a method merging together agriculture and photovoltaics has been experimented with for many years now. We previously explained the technical aspect of how it works in “Agrivoltaics To Merge “Real” Farms With Solar Farms”.
Source: Dezeen
Three researchers at the University of Bonn (Germany) have studied the perception of agrivoltaics by the broader public, the willingness to pay for power generated this way, and if the type of crop cultivated changes this perception.
They published their results in the scientific journal Land Use Policy1, under the title “Agrivoltaics increases public acceptance of solar energy production on agricultural land”.
What Is Agrivoltaics? Basics and Benefits Explained
The key idea of agrivoltaics is to install solar panels in such a way that normal farming activity can still be done on the same land. This can take many forms, with usually more spacing between the solar panels than in a traditional solar farm:
- Higher frames to cultivate crops under the solar panels.
- More distant rows of solar panels, to cultivate the space between them.
- Husbandry of cattle or other grazing animals, with the grass growing at the feet of the panels feeding them.
- Using the panel frames as trellis or support for climbing plants like vines.
- Mounting vertically bifacial solar panels, to minimize the surface area used, and facilitate the passing of farming machinery, like tractors and combines.
This creates a very diverse array of agrivoltaics solutions, but we can define it for example with the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy guidelines for agrivoltaics, which states that a total of 85 % of an agrivoltaics area must remain available for agricultural use.
Overall, agrivoltaic methods are expected to result in an identical productivity of solar panels on a per-panel basis, but require more land for the same electricity production. It also somewhat reduces the food production per acre/hectare, which can be compensated for the farmer by the increased revenues from solar electricity production.
In addition, some unexpected side effects of solar panels can actually help crops or animals to be more productive in specific conditions.
“They sometimes also create synergies. For example, the solar cells can be used as a transparent canopy to protect fruit trees or grapevines from hailstones or harsh sunlight. On wheat fields, they often serve as wind protection – similar to a wall or a hedge.”
Hendrik Zeddies from the Center for Development Research (ZEF) at the University of Bonn
Public Opinion on Agrivoltaics: What Recent Surveys Reveal
Setting Up The Right Questions
The study was conducted with 2,000 people, reflecting the demographics of the German adult population in terms of age, sex, education, income, and state of residency.
The participants were asked to give their opinion about 3 landscapes: pasture, grain, and vineyard. For each, the possibility of traditional farming, agrivoltaics, and classical solar farms were judged.
Information about the CO2 emissions and electricity output per hectare avoided by the installation where also provided. In addition, reference was made to the agronomic advantages of AV for each specific scenario (e.g., wind protection for grain crops and hailstorm protection for viticulture)
Source: Land Use Policy
Study participants first answered the ‘yes/no’ question about whether they would be willing to pay an additional amount on their annual electricity bill to support the respective agrivoltaics or open solar shown.
They were then asked about their perception regarding multiple criteria about the land like landscape attractiveness, access, wildlife, recreational value, and multifunctionality, among others.
Marked Preference For Agrivoltaics
The first question immediately showed a strong difference between the 2 types of solar projects. A much larger part of the public was ready to pay more for electricity produced with solar energy if the solar farm was built using agrivoltaics techniques.
Source: Land Use Policy
However, the type of agriculture being practiced was not significantly changing the perception of the question, illustrating that the difference is mostly driven by the perception of farmland “loss” to solar fields.
Socio-Economics Differences
Unsurprisingly, people favorable to renewable energy were more positive toward solar projects.
Urban dwellers had a more positive image than rural inhabitants, and higher-income households and/or younger respondents were more positive about solar projects as well.
While the other socioeconomic difference might reflect the perception of renewables and climate change overall, the higher opinion about all types of solar farms by urban inhabitants might reflect their distance from the plant, while rural inhabitants feel they will be directly impacted “in their backyard”.
The average willingness to pay more for solar-sourced electricity was around 20€/year for agrivoltaics, and 12€ for open space solar.
Agrivoltaics vs Solar Farms: How the Public Perceives Each Option
However, even the agrivoltaics system was perceived as significantly less aesthetic than “normal” farms, less usable for recreation or by wildlife.
So even agrivoltaics are not likely to change the perception that solar projects “damage” the countryside and nature, they just do it less than traditional open space solar.
Interestingly, wildlife was perceived as doing better with agrivoltaics than in open-space solar, while factually, the opposite is true, as wildlife is less diverse in active farms than in the “abandoned” land of open solar farms. The researchers considered that it might be due to the presence of (domesticated) animals in the farm and agrivoltaics pictures.
Conclusion
Overall, agrivoltaics are likely to be more accepted by the public, especially if the advantages regarding farmland productivity are explained more. The researchers assumed that a similar attitude should be found in the rest of Western Europe.
Beyond Western Europe, the degree of land abundance/scarcity, poverty, and food insecurity are also expected to play a role in public perceptions of solar energy projects on agricultural land, as well as the country-specific perception regarding renewables and climate change.
The apparent willingness to pay a premium for agrivoltaics design could indicate a possibility for such an option to be subsidized at a higher rate than open space solar fields. However, declaring such willingness in the abstract during a study and actually being happy to do so, might differ in reality.
Overall, this study still brings an additional element to keep developing and improving agrivoltaics options: not only could it be more easily integrated into farms and create a double use for farmlands, instead of replacing them, but it could also improve the public perception of solar farms overall, helping boost the adoption of renewable energies.
Investing In Agrivoltaics
Agrivoltaics is still, for now, a relatively emerging field, with most solar professionals only starting to adapt to its potential.
So for now, solar farms are mostly in competition with agriculture for land. But in the future, the world’s 500+ million farmers might be providing the rest of the global population not only their food but also their energy.
You can invest in solar companies through many brokers, and you can find here, on securities.io, our recommendations for the best brokers in the USA, Canada, Australia, the UK, as well as many other countries.
If you are not interested in picking specific solar companies, you can also look into ETFs like Global X Solar ETF (RAYS -0.72%), Invesco Solar ETF (TAN +0.79%), or Global X China Clean Energy ETF (2809.HK), which will provide a more diversified exposure to capitalize on the solar and clean energy industry.
You can also read our article about the “Top 10 Solar Power Stocks to Invest In”.
Solar Companies to Watch in 2025
Daqo New Energy Corp.
Daqo New Energy Corp. (DQ +1.78%)
This Chinese company is one of the world’s leaders in polysilicon production, the central component for solar panel manufacturing. As a leading producer of polysilicon, Daqo is one of the founding pillars of China’s domination over the solar manufacturing sector.
The company has been growing its production capacity very quickly (maybe too quickly even, see below), more than 8x since 2019 and 61x since 2013.
Source: Daqo
Daqo’s position at the center of the solar panel supply chain enabled it to benefit greatly from the sector’s growth, with revenues growing quickly during the boom.
After a surge in 2022, polysilicon prices have cooled down, causing the stock price to crash from its 2021 peak. It has been declining since.
Polysilicon prices are still today below production costs ($6-$7/kg), leading to a durable crisis in the industry. However, Daqo has no debt and carries $2.15B in quick assets, readily convertible into cash if needed.
Source: Daqo
In Q2 2025, the company operated at a reduced utilization rate of approximately 33% of its nameplate capacity.
“During the first quarter, polysilicon producers implemented self-discipline measures to mitigate the impact of irrational competition amid falling prices, resulting in an industry-wide capacity utilization of approximately 50%.
As ongoing losses, poor profitability, and cash burn force less competitive players to exit the market, we expect overcapacity to be ultimately eliminated, bringing the solar PV industry back to normal improved profitability and healthier margins.”
Mr. Xiang Xu – CEO of Daqo New Energy
Additionally to solar and polysilicon price war depressing margins, Daqo has been controversial since 2021 due to alleged use of forced labor in Xinjiang and regular talks in Washington DC of additional sanctions against companies operating in the Chinese region.
The new Trump administration has also at times threatened to de-list Chinese companies from US markets, on top of the massive tariffs banning essentially all solar panels not made in the USA from this market.
So investors should be aware that Daqo’s stock carries a very real geopolitical risk and at the same time a large financial upside potential due to its low valuation multiples and the industry getting to the bottom of its economic cycle.
As China and the rest of the world install more solar panels than ever, polysilicon low prices and the over capacity of the industry should correct and let the most capitalized and largest actors in the industry recover in the medium term.
Latest Daqo New Energy (DQ) Stock News and Developments
Study Referenced
1. Hendrik Hilmar Zeddies, Martin Parlasca, Matin Qaim. “Agrivoltaics increases public acceptance of solar energy production on agricultural land”. Land Use Policy. Volume 156, September 2025, 107604. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2025.107604