Photovoltaics, agriculture, and ecology: From agrivoltaics to ecovoltaics

One of the challenges facing our modern society is how to reconcile growing energy demand, demographic and food pressures, and ecological and environmental emergencies. This book provides an update on a rapidly evolving subject: modern photovoltaics capable of combining energy and ecological transition. While solar photovoltaics is a well-proven technical solution in terms of energy, its development can compete with agricultural land or natural sites. New solutions are emerging: the installation of photovoltaic parks on brownfield sites, agrivoltaics, which combines agricultural activity and energy production on the same surface, and ecovoltaics, which makes it possible to enhance the value of unused areas under solar panels by developing ecological solutions capable of providing services to nature. These innovations are part of the need to preserve terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, halt the decline in animal and plant biodiversity, and ultimately contribute to the development of a new model of sustainable development and green economy.

Author: Claude Grison, Lucie Cases, Mailys Le Moigne, Martine Hossaert-McKey

ISTE editions
, July 2021

Link to the book