AgriSolar News Roundup: Serbian Agrisolar, Cornell Agrisolar Research, Agrisolar in France 

Serbia’s First Agrisolar Project Developed  

“Agrisolar, an increasingly popular and effective solution for harnessing solar energy, has finally arrived in Serbia. Organic farm Organela in the village of Gornja Bukovica has become home to the country’s first agrisolar power plant.” – balkangreenenergynews.com 

Cornell Researches Solar Farming for Sustainable Agricultural Production 

“Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) established an Agrivoltaics Research Program on Dec. 8, 2023, after Governor Hochul signed a bill to fund their research. 

Henry Williams, a Ph.D. mechanical engineering student at Cornell University, said the research at Cornell University focuses on using the land beneath the solar panels as a place to grow crops.  

‘Cornell pioneered sheep grazing research through the Cascadilla solar farm project that started a few years ago,” Williams said. “Right now, the focus of agrivoltaic research at Cornell is shifting toward crop production and how we can design solar farms to co-locate crops and produce renewable energy.’” – theithican.org 

French Agrisolar Farms find Balance Between Solar and Agriculture 

“In March 2023, the French government passed a law requiring all solar projects on farmlands to provide some sort of service to agriculture: from improving yields to protecting crops from frost or heatwaves. The decree, entitled ‘On Accelerating the Production of Renewable Energies,’hopes to address a rising call to protect agriculture from an increase in the amount of land being used to harvest solar energy rather than crops. 

The bill hopes to build a compromise — aiming to meet the demands from energy companies to install solar panels, without damaging the yield of land used for food production. More laws on the issue are being drafted, including one that specifies the penalty that landowners might face for not meeting productivity targets.” Nature.com