The DACC makes available to the agricultural sector a technical instruction that establishes the criteria to make the generation of agrivoltaic energy on agricultural land compatible and will study its implementation in several projects, one of them already in operation.
The Department of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda (DACC) of the Generalitat of Catalonia has made technical instruction available to the agricultural sector that establishes the criteria to make the generation of agrivoltaic energy on agricultural land compatible. This is the first official definition of agrovoltaics carried out in Spain, where there is still no national consensus to define this activity as is the case in Germany, France or Italy.
“Agrivoltaics is a mixed exploitation system that combines agriculture and electricity in the same area,” states the instruction developed by the General Directorate of Agriculture and Livestock. This establishes general criteria and specific criteria related to land use, crop yields and the different types of support systems that these facilities must have.
In this way, the regulations establish that it is mandatory to maintain agricultural activity throughout the duration of the agrivoltaic project. Specifically, it must be ensured that the agricultural crop yield on the total project area after the construction of the agrivoltaic installation remains at least 60% of the total yield. In the same way, installations that alter the natural structure of the soil or concreting to avoid compaction and degradation of agricultural soil cannot be carried out, except in transformation centers.
In addition, the instruction also points out that, depending on the support model of the photovoltaic panels, which can be high or low, the loss of usable surface for agriculture due to structures, substructures, safety strips, buildings, maintenance roads and Access may not exceed 15% or 20% of the total area occupied by the agrivoltaic project.
Pilot projects
In parallel, the IRTA (Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentàries) has developed the first photovoltaic pilot project in fruit trees in Catalonia, which has a cost of €813,389, will be financed with the Fons Climàtic and will last 5 years.
It combines fruit trees and a metal structure with photovoltaic panels designed not only to generate electricity, but also to protect the trees.
Specifically, two plantations have been developed that occupy 2,880 m2 in Mollerussa (Lleida). In total, and among all the installations, 322 photovoltaic panels have been installed with a maximum energy production of 165 kW in two apple orchards (one in Gala and the other in Golden).
In it, two types of solar installations are tested: one with translucent panels that allow sunlight to pass through and another with mobile photovoltaic panels, whose orientation varies to dose the light that the trees receive. In total, a total of 322 photovoltaic panels have been placed, at a height of between 4.5 and 5.5 m.
The project will study how the shadow cast by solar panels affects soil moisture and fruit production.
In addition to this installation, there are projects for two others, both in the pipeline in the Urgell region, while the Generalitat has established rules to regulate future installations of this type.
