The EU-funded REGACE Project held on June 13, 2025 a one-hour online discussion titled “From Agri-PV Greenhouses to Fork: Exploring Solar Innovation and Legal Pathways in Sustainable Farming.”
The session tackled one of the most exciting trends in sustainable agriculture: agrivoltaics, the dual use of land for both farming and solar energy production.
With Europe’s farmers facing growing pressure from climate volatility, energy prices, and regulatory shifts, agrivoltaics offers a promising path forward on the condition that technology, policies, and social dynamics align.
Agrivoltaics places solar panels above or around crops or within greenhouses, capturing solar energy while allowing plant cultivation underneath. This dual-use model improves land productivity, cuts greenhouse gas emissions, and generates new income streams for farmers.
The REGACE project is dedicated to developing an innovative Agrivoltaics technology that uses CO2 enrichment to sustainably increase greenhouses yields and improve electricity production.
“Agrivoltaics has emerged as a key solution at the intersection of green energy and farming in the EU,” said Ezgi Ercan a lawyer from Timelex, who opened the session.
The first presentation was given by Prof. Cristina Cornaro from the University of Rome Tor Vergata, who demonstrated how the REGACE project has been developing digital twins (virtual models of agri-solar greenhouses) to simulate performance under real-world weather and crop conditions.
She said that the use of Spatio Temporal Graph Neural Networks (STGNN) for the REGACE model shows better results with respect to other neural networks approaches, as system complexity increases.
This was followed by a presentation by Prof. Andrea Volterrani from the University of Rome Tor Vergata, who examined the participatory processes involving farmers in photovoltaic innovation in greenhouses.
Prof. Volterrani introduced the REGACE approach of co-creation in agrivoltaics that is aimed at supporting innovation through a dialog between academic research and farmers. He added that through participatory workshops across Italy, Greece, Germany, and Austria, REGACE researchers found that when farmers were involved in the design process their confidence and willingness to adopt increased dramatically.
Dr. Liron Amdur from the Tel Aviv University spoke about the environmental and economic potential of CO₂ enrichment and dual land use for sustainable agriculture and renewable energy.
Amdur said that in some countries PV in greenhouses can provide up to 54 percent of renewable energy goals. She added that the cost of investment in agrivoltaics in greenhouses is 24% lower than in open field agrivoltaics.
The event was concluded with the presentation of Ercan, who spoke about the legal challenges and pathways shaping the future of agrivoltaics, including data governance. She emphasized that agrivoltaics must navigate a complex, evolving digital and legal ecosystem.
In this regard, Timelex has formulated clear, actionable recommendations for EU and national decision-makers:
- The Common Agricultural Policy should explicitly ensure that Agri-PV installations do not disqualify farmers from receiving support, and mechanisms should be established to monitor compliance with legal standards.
- Simplifying and shortening permitting procedures for renewable energy projects is crucial. It is necessary to clarify that Agri-PV projects are permissible on agriculturally zoned land.
- States are encouraged to implement dedicated support schemes for agrivoltaics, enhance rural energy grid infrastructure, and provide bonuses for agrivoltaics in tender evaluations.
- Clear tax benefits and guidance on benefit-sharing across the agrivoltaics value chain would further incentivize adoption.
- Finally, stakeholders should actively address misinformation to build public trust and awareness around the benefits of Agri-PV systems.
