Everything You Need To Know About Agri PV For Utility Scale Solar Projects

Agri-PV, also known as agri-voltaics or dual-use solar, is becoming one of the most promising innovations in utility-scale solar development. By combining solar energy production with ongoing agricultural use on the same land, Agri-PV provides a compelling solution to one of the industry’s biggest constraints: access to land.

Agri-PV opens up land that would otherwise be unavailable. eases permitting by aligning with agricultural policies, and strengthens landowner relationships through shared use and long-term value.

But it also introduces new challenges like crop compatibility, grazing dynamics, equipment spacing, and stakeholder engagement, all of which require careful planning and smart design tools.

This guide is your complete introduction to Agri-PV for utility-scale projects. Whether you’re testing solar grazing or exploring more advanced crop-integrated layouts, you’ll learn:

• What Agri-PV is and how it works
• How solar grazing compares to crop-based systems
• Where Agri-PV is gaining traction globally
• How to evaluate land for dual-use potential
• Risks to avoid and how to de-risk early-stage development
• Best practices for landowner engagement
• How Glint Solar supports Agri-PV from site selection to design

What Is Agri-PV?

Agri-PV refers to the simultaneous use of land for both agriculture and photovoltaic generation. Rather than competing for land, this dual-use model allows solar developers and farmers to collaborate,  maximizing land productivity while supporting energy transition goals.

At its core, Agri-PV is about making better use of land by aligning energy production with ongoing agricultural activity. But not all Agri-PV systems are the same. There’s a wide spectrum of approaches, each with its own design implications, cost structures, and regulatory considerations.

Before we get into that though, let's look at why Agri-PV is becoming such a viable option.

Why Agri-PV Is Gaining Momentum

Agri-PV isn’t just a novel concept, it’s fast becoming a strategic response to several converging pressures on solar project development. As land constraints tighten, community pushback grows, and policy frameworks evolve. Agri-PV offers developers a way to unlock more land, de-risk permitting, and build stronger local support.

1. Land Availability Is a Growing Challenge

Utility-scale solar projects need flat, buildable space that is ideally close to grid infrastructure. But competition for land is intensifying. Agricultural, conservation, and residential land uses often clash with solar development. Agri-PV allows developers to access parcels that would otherwise be off the table, enabling energy generation without displacing food production.

2. Policy and Incentives Are Accelerating Adoption

Governments across Europe, the UK, and the US are supporting Agri-PV through subsidies, pilot programs, and regulatory adjustments. In the EU, several Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reforms now explicitly support dual-use systems. France and Germany are leading the charge with large-scale pilots and national tenders favoring Agri-PV designs.

In the United States, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provides strong financial backing for solar developments that incorporate environmental or agricultural co-benefits, positioning Agri-PV as a natural fit for developers pursuing tax credits and local approvals.

3. Agri-PV Improves Stakeholder Perception

From local communities to landowners and permitting authorities, Agri-PV projects are often viewed more favorably than traditional solar farms. By preserving agricultural activity, developers can reduce perceived land-use conflicts and improve alignment with food security goals. This is particularly important in regions where rural communities are protective of farmland and skeptical of large-scale solar. Agri-PV shifts the narrative from land replacement to land enhancement.

4. It’s Becoming Financially Attractive

Agri-PV can generate long-term economic benefits for both developers and landowners. Farmers may see increased income through lease agreements while maintaining productive land use. Developers can secure land more easily, shorten time-to-permit, and reduce risk of delays or rejection.

A study from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) estimates that using just 1% of Europe’s farmland for Agri-PV could yield 944 GW of solar capacity, far exceeding the EU’s 2030 targets. With proper design and execution, this isn’t just sustainable, it’s highly scalable.

Where Agri-PV Is Taking Off

In 2024, the global agri-voltaics market was valued at USD 4.59 billion and is expected to reach USD 5.13 billion in 2025. By 2034, it's expected to reach USD 13.88 billion.

Europe: Leading the Way in Policy and Pilots

France and Germany are two of the most active Agri-PV markets globally.

• France has established a structured framework around Agri-PV, with pilot programs supported by the French Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) and the development of national guidelines to separate "co-location" from true Agri-PV. Developers in France can tap into dedicated tenders that prioritize integrated agricultural use, particularly crop-based systems.
  
  
• Germany has recognized Agri-PV as a core component of its energy strategy. The government is investing in research, establishing definitions and standards, and supporting pilot sites that span from vineyard-integrated designs to elevated row crops.
  
  
• Italy and the Netherlands are also gaining traction, with growing political attention and funding to explore Agri-PV's potential across different land types and farming practices.

The United Kingdom: A Market in Formation

The UK is still in the early stages of defining its Agri-PV market and while solar grazing is well-established in the UK, crop-based Agri-PV lacks standardization and incentives. However, interest is growing, particularly as land access and permitting become harder to navigate for traditional solar farms.

United States: Big Incentives, Early Exploration

The U.S. is showing strong policy support through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which rewards multi-benefit projects, including those with environmental and agricultural components. States like Massachusetts, Oregon, and Colorado have launched incentive programs or guidance for Agri-PV installations.

While much of the U.S. Agri-PV landscape is still experimental, solar grazing has already taken off in regions like the Northeast and Midwest. Crop-based Agri-PV is emerging in areas where water scarcity or farmland protection is a concern.

Other Global Hotspots

• Japan was one of the first countries to implement Agri-PV at scale, with thousands of smallholder installations optimized for vegetable and fruit production.
  
  
• South Korea and India are exploring Agri-PV as part of national food-energy security strategies, particularly in rural areas with high land competition.
  
  
• Chile and Australia are piloting Agri-PV in arid climates where combining crop resilience with energy production presents a valuable win-win.

Agri-PV is evolving rapidly, but one trend is clear: wherever land is scarce and policy is supportive, the model gains traction, particularly when developers can show tangible benefits for both energy and agriculture.

How to Evaluate Land for Agri-PV Success

Before choosing the right Agri-PV model, it’s critical to understand what makes a site suitable in the first place. Unlike traditional utility-scale solar, dual-use development introduces a second layer of constraints: the land must remain productive for farming or grazing, not just solar generation. That means project success depends as much on agro-technical conditions as it does on irradiance and grid proximity.

In this section, we outline what developers need to assess early in the prospecting process — from drainage and soil health to machinery access and seasonal land use. These factors will shape not just feasibility, but also which system type (grazing or crop-based) is the better fit.

Solar Grazing: Low-Risk, High Adoption

This is the simplest and most widely adopted form of Agri-PV. It involves allowing livestock, typically sheep or goats, to graze beneath and around solar panels. The benefits are clear:

1. Vegetation is naturally managed.
2. Maintenance costs are reduced.
3. Land remains agriculturally productive.

Best suited for: Sites with existing livestock operations, projects needing quick approvals, or terrain unsuitable for crops

• Low complexity: Standard panel spacing and height often suffice.
• Proven model: Especially popular in France and Germany.
• Lower risk: Fewer changes needed to conventional solar design.

Crop-Based Agri-PV: Strategic but Complex

Crop-integrated systems are more complex and still evolving. These involve growing crops between or beneath elevated or widely spaced panels. The design must balance solar output with the light, water, and space needs of specific crops, often requiring input from agronomists.

Challenges to manage: Increased design costs, crop-light sensitivity, and more complex stakeholder communication

• High potential, high complexity: Especially for specialty crops or regions with land scarcity.
• Custom design required: Height, row spacing, tilt, and panel density must be optimized.
• Emerging standards: Many projects are still in pilot or trial phases.

We cover these differences in more detail and give our take on the current policy developments across Europe in our latest webinar here, along with a live demo showcasing how you can use Glint Solar for your Agri-PV projects. Check it out below!

So… Which Should You Choose?

The answer depends on your land context, strategy, and timeline.

• Want faster timelines, lower CAPEX, and minimal friction? → Start with solar grazing.
• Want to build long-term advantage, enter sensitive regions, or secure public funding? → Explore crop-based Agri-PV but build your internal capabilities or partner up.

Navigating Landowner Conversations in Agri-PV

Unlike standard solar projects, Agri-PV asks landowners to remain co-users of their land.

From the very first conversation, it’s essential that developers approach landowners as long-term partners. Misalignment on how the land will be used, accessed, or managed can lead to breakdowns that derail the project entirely.

Want to navigate these conversations successfully? Check out our dedicated guide below!

The table below summarizes the core concerns landowners often have and what developers should be ready to address:

What works best:

• Use maps and visual layouts early. Don’t rely on verbal assurances.
• Offer flexible lease structures that allow landowners to adapt their practices seasonally.
• Present Agri-PV not just as a lease opportunity, but as a joint land improvement strategy.

Practical Ways to Build Trust Early

• Visuals > Verbal assurances
  Most landowners aren’t engineers. Show them annotated layouts, elevation views, and land use overlays. Help them visualize how fencing, grazing paths, or tractor access will actually work.

• Specificity matters
  Don’t just say the land is “compatible with crops” — explain which ones, why, and how panel design supports that. If you’re planning solar grazing, clarify livestock type, stocking density, and who manages the animals.

• Design flexibility
  Structure leases to allow landowners to adapt their practices over time. This could include rotational grazing zones, seasonal crop trials, or co-managed maintenance roles.

• Use feedback loops
  Many landowners hold deep local knowledge about drainage patterns, soil quirks, or areas prone to flooding. Treat those insights as essential to the layout process, not afterthoughts.

Risks and Roadblocks: How Developers Can De-Risk Agri-PV

Agri-PV offers major upside, but its success depends on how well developers navigate its unique challenges. Below are the most common pitfalls that cause Agri-PV projects to stall, along with ways to proactively manage them.

Designs That Don’t Fit the Land Use

One of the most frequent issues is a mismatch between solar design and agricultural practicality. Panel spacing, height, and tilt might work for optimal energy generation, but if they limit machinery access or disrupt livestock movement, the agricultural side of the equation falls apart. This often results in late-stage redesigns, frustrated landowners, and extended timelines.

The solution is to approach design with dual use in mind from the start. That means evaluating layout options with both solar output and land productivity as equal priorities,  not trade-offs. Collaboration with agronomic or livestock specialists early on can help avoid design missteps that are expensive to fix later.

How to de-risk: Use layout tools that let you simulate spacing, height, and tilt for agricultural use from day one. Involve agricultural stakeholders in early modeling, not just after engineering.

Site Assumptions That Don’t Hold Up

Traditional solar site evaluation doesn’t always account for the factors that matter most in Agri-PV. Soil composition, drainage, vegetation type, and light distribution across seasons can all influence whether a site is viable for crops or grazing. Overlooking these variables can lead to investing in sites that were never suitable to begin with.

To mitigate this, developers need access to more granular data earlier in the pipeline. Having tools that layer terrain, land use, and exclusion zones into one platform makes it easier to assess true site compatibility.

How to de-risk: Ensure your prospecting workflows include agro-technical layers such as crop suitability, historical land use, and surface hydrology. A multi-layer GIS view helps you qualify land more effectively and avoid false positives.

Stakeholder Misalignment

Even when landowners are open to Agri-PV in principle, projects can falter if their expectations aren’t carefully managed. Concerns around continued access, impact on yields, or unclear responsibilities during construction and operation can create tension. Misunderstandings like these are difficult to resolve once development is underway.

Success here comes down to transparency. Showing landowners what the layout will look like, how their land will be accessed, and what role they’ll play moving forward builds trust. It also gives you a chance to catch red flags before agreements are signed.

How to de-risk: Prioritize visual communication. Export design maps, produce dual-use overlays, and prepare shareable reports that clarify what’s being proposed. Build co-design into your engagement process.

Policy Uncertainty and Permitting Delays

Agri-PV is still new territory in many markets. Inconsistent definitions and evolving standards make it harder to predict permitting timelines or approval criteria. This is especially true for crop-based systems, which often face more scrutiny from regulatory bodies.

The best way forward is to stay informed. Engage with local policy developments, reference existing pilot projects, and use terminology aligned with regional frameworks. This shows permitting authorities that your project is grounded in existing precedent,  not experimentation.

How to de-risk: Stay updated on policy frameworks in your market (e.g., France’s TOSS regulations, EU CAP criteria, US IRA provisions). Reference existing pilot projects and provide detailed justification for layout and use types.

Resource Bottlenecks in Early Stages

Agri-PV feasibility tends to involve more stakeholders, more design iterations, and more external input than traditional PV. Without a clear workflow, teams can burn significant hours before even reaching the permitting stage.

What helps is equipping business development teams with the ability to run initial evaluations independently. When early-stage design and data analysis are centralized in one tool, you reduce engineering backlogs and free up your specialists to focus on high-priority projects.

How to de-risk: Equip business development teams with self-serve tools for initial layout testing, constraint mapping, and stakeholder-ready visuals. Empower them to qualify and iterate without engineering dependency.

By tackling these challenges early and building a repeatable, data-driven approach, developers can move through Agri-PV development with more confidence,  and a much higher success rate.

Developing Agri-PV Projects With Glint Solar

Agri-PV introduces a higher bar for site evaluation, design accuracy, and stakeholder collaboration. From understanding pasture viability to ensuring regulatory compliance, developers can’t rely on conventional prospecting tools alone.

Glint Solar helps streamline these early-phase complexities by centralizing solar, agricultural, and permitting considerations in one collaborative platform — with features tailored to how Agri-PV developers actually work.

Evaluate Smarter, Earlier

Early-stage Agri-PV projects often fail because of incomplete data, misaligned assumptions, or a lack of visibility into land constraints. With Glint, developers can:

• Tap into Agri-PV-specific data libraries: In France, this includes RPG crop history, livestock density maps, and pasture-type classifications. In the UK and broader Europe, Glint supports similar agricultural and subsidy-relevant layers, helping tailor searches to grazing or crop use cases.

You can watch the full version of this free on-demand webinar here.

• Use smart filters to de-risk fast: Set thresholds for slope, elevation, parcel shape, or proximity to substations and instantly narrow down your viable land pool before the first call to a landowner.

Design With Both Agriculture and Energy in Mind

Agri-PV design isn’t just about layout density or MW output — it’s about ensuring the land remains functional for grazing or cropping throughout the project’s lifespan.

Glint enables developers to:

• Model elevated or spaced structures tailored to Agri-PV: Pre-set design profiles (e.g., for sheep grazing or crop production) make it easy to adjust panel height, row spacing, and tilt for light access or machinery movement.
  
  
• Simulate multiple layout scenarios: Quickly test different structures across zones to compare land use trade-offs and regulatory implications.
  
  

You can watch the full version of this free on-demand webinar here.

• Calculate regulatory metrics automatically: For France, Glint includes built-in Taux d’Occupation du Sol (TOS) calculations. Developers can tweak panel parameters and instantly see if they meet regulatory thresholds for ground coverage.
  
  

You can watch the full version of this free on-demand webinar here.

Align Stakeholders Earlier

Agri-PV hinges on landowner buy-in. Glint helps turn assumptions into conversations — fast:

• Create 3D visualizations for landowners: Show how rows, roads, and fences look in your project, as well as how different layouts will look.

You can watch the full version of this free on-demand webinar here.

• Export ready-to-share visuals and reports: Generate stakeholder-facing PDFs, capacity estimates, and annotated site visuals in minutes. Use them to build trust before leases are signed.
  
  
• Track internal progress: Assign leads, leave notes, and organize projects across regions or stages so that all teams stay aligned from day one.

The Future of Agri-PV: Where This Market Is Headed

As land pressures intensify and policy incentives align, developers who treat Agri-PV as a core part of their pipeline will be positioned to lead.

Policy Clarity Is Accelerating Adoption

Governments across Europe and North America are actively refining what qualifies as Agri-PV. In France and Germany, pilot programs are informing national tenders and compliance guidelines. In the U.S., the Inflation Reduction Act offers enhanced tax incentives for dual-use projects.

As definitions solidify and incentives grow, permitting timelines should become more predictable — especially for projects that include measurable agricultural value.

Hardware Innovation Is Expanding the Possibilities

Developers now have access to systems that weren’t feasible just a few years ago:

• Vertical bifacial panels for narrow row crops
• Elevated tracker systems for grazing and machinery clearance
• Anti-tracking modes to manage shading for specialty crops like berries

Expect even more innovation in racking design, crop compatibility modeling, and water usage optimization.

Data and Simulation Will Drive the Next Phase

The future of Agri-PV is data-driven. Developers will increasingly simulate not just energy yield but also crop yield, soil temperature, and evapotranspiration rates under the panels. This supports better stakeholder conversations, more accurate financial models, and stronger ESG positioning.

Stakeholder Expectations Will Continue to Rise

Communities, landowners, and regulators are becoming more familiar with Agri-PV — and more discerning. Projects that lack clear agricultural co-benefits will face increased scrutiny. In contrast, those that demonstrate thoughtful land use, productive outcomes, and measurable impact will gain faster approvals and stronger community support.