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Foreword by Thomas Lesueur

In response to the two major contemporary challenges of combating climate change and preserving biodiversity, this book sheds light on two innovative and promising solutions: agrivoltaics and ecovoltaics, that is, the combination, on the same soil, of crops for food or ecological purposes and photovoltaic panels in conditions that are sustainable and even regenerative for the planet.

The following pages provide benchmarks, lessons from experience and perspectives on these techniques, which are still in the making, combining local solar electricity production and biodiversity-friendly agronomic practices on a single plot of land.

The main studies and summaries presented here on the subject – notably those carried out by ADEME (French Environment and Energy Management Agency) – remind us that the photovoltaic industry can still make progress in reducing its ecological footprint. Three particularly sensitive points are brought to the reader’s attention: the conditions for extracting, processing and transporting silicon, the materials needed to build the installations and the recyclability of the material at the end of its life.

Second, lessons from experience: agrivoltaics and ecovoltaics have been tested in recent years on very different scales and in very different ways. The overview of initiatives carried out in France and abroad integrating these agro- and eco-energy approaches shows one of the major difficulties hindering their deployment: the lack of natural light for the crops protected by the photovoltaic panels.

Lastly, and most importantly, in response to these difficulties, solutions are outlined and tested in the field, in particular the cultivation of plants chosen specifically for their tolerance of low soil moisture and their food, medicinal, phytosanitary and ecological value. The first results obtained for these crops are encouraging; they are intended to provide food for thought on the future of our agricultural models.

Thomas LESUEUR

General Commissioner for Sustainable Development

Ministry of Ecological Transition, France