Design of agrivoltaic system to optimize land use for clean energy-food production: a socio-economic and environmental assessment

Accessing solar photovoltaic energy is a key point to develop sustainable energy and the economy of a developing country like India. The country has set a target of 100 GW of power production from solar photovoltaics to double the farmer's income by 2022, out of which 50 GW has been achieved by 2021. As an evolving economy, demand for energy and foods has improved by almost 40% and 25%, respectively. This transition will add to the global competition in land use issues. In this perspective, a dual land use approach, 'agrivoltaic system' is essential to secure land tenure as well as enhance energy-food security, socio-economic feasibility, and livelihoods of the country. In the present study, three different types of design techniques have been demonstrated to obtain an efficient system. A double row array design capacity of a 6 kWp agrivoltaic system is found as the best system in terms of average annual revenue, land equivalent ratio, and payback period resulting in 2308.9 USD, 1.42, and up to 7.6 years, respectively. Further, the socio-economic parameters such as revenue, benefit-cost ratio, and price-performance ratio of turmeric are found to be 187.3 USD, 1.86, and 0.75, respectively, in the same land use. This work can be extended to a different technology of panels, more seasonal crops, and photosynthesis responses in medium and large-scale AVS.