Colocation or “agrivoltaics”

Coupled solar infrastructure and agriculture could be established in marginal lands with low water use, thus minimizing the socioeconomic and environmental issues resulting from cultivation of economically important non-food crops (e.g., biofuels) in prime agricultural lands. Co-locating solar infrastructure and agriculture (including desert-adapted crops/biofuels) may provide additional benefits such as dual income streams to farmers, employment opportunities at solar facilities for crop management, options for rural electrification, and electricity for processing agriculture products locally.