Agrivoltaics vs Conventional Solar Farms: Benefits, Costs and Returns

3 min read · Updat­ed on 21 Octo­ber 2026

The expan­sion of renew­able ener­gy in Ger­many is accel­er­at­ing – and com­pe­ti­tion for avail­able land is inten­si­fy­ing. While con­ven­tion­al solar farms use open land exclu­sive­ly for pow­er gen­er­a­tion, agri­v­olta­ic sys­tems go one step fur­ther: they com­bine pho­to­voltaics with active farm­ing.

This dual use of land is regard­ed as a key tech­nol­o­gy for rec­on­cil­ing cli­mate pro­tec­tion, food secu­ri­ty and eco­nom­ic inter­ests. Accord­ing to a study by the Fraun­hofer Insti­tute for Solar Ener­gy Sys­tems (ISE), Ger­many has the poten­tial for up to 500 gigawatts of agri­v­oltaics – enough to accel­er­ate the ener­gy tran­si­tion sig­nif­i­cant­ly and ease land-use con­flicts.

But how do agri­v­olta­ic sys­tems com­pare with con­ven­tion­al solar farms? This arti­cle looks at the ben­e­fits, draw­backs, costs and returns of agri­v­oltaics com­pared with ground-mount­ed solar.

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What is agrivoltaics – and how does it differ from a conventional solar farm?

Agri­v­oltaics (Agri-PV) means installing solar mod­ules so that the land beneath them or between the mod­ule rows can con­tin­ue to be farmed – for exam­ple with ele­vat­ed, ver­ti­cal or track­ing sys­tems.

Con­ven­tion­al solar farms (ground-mount­ed PV), by con­trast, rely on low-mount­ed, most­ly south-fac­ing mod­ules that deliv­er max­i­mum pow­er out­put per area – but with­out agri­cul­tur­al use.

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System designs compared

Agri­v­olta­ic sys­tems

• Track­ers (sin­gle-axis track­ing sys­tems) with bifa­cial mod­ules for max­i­mum effi­cien­cy with min­i­mal land take
• With Ylektra’s agri­v­oltaics con­cept, around 85 % of the land remains effec­tive­ly usable for farm­ing
• Mod­ule rows are adapt­ed to the indi­vid­ual agri­cul­tur­al con­cept for each site
• Com­pli­ant with the Ger­man stan­dard DIN SPEC 91434
• Over 80 % approval in sur­veys – com­pared with 67 % for con­ven­tion­al solar farms

Ylek­tra advan­tage: We com­bine agri­v­oltaics with util­i­ty-scale bat­tery ener­gy stor­age (BESS) to store ener­gy effi­cient­ly and feed it into the grid – a clear com­pet­i­tive advan­tage for investors and landown­ers.

Con­ven­tion­al solar farms

• Dense mod­ule lay­out, up to 2 MW per hectare
• Com­plete change of land use and seal­ing
• Greater poten­tial for con­flict in nature con­ser­va­tion areas and with pub­lic accep­tance

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Costs and returns of agrivoltaics

Agri­v­oltaics requires a high­er ini­tial invest­ment but offers attrac­tive long-term returns through addi­tion­al income and increas­ing sup­port.

Cost com­par­i­son:

• Agri­v­oltaics: invest­ment of €600,000–900,000 per hectare
• Con­ven­tion­al solar farms: invest­ment of €400,000–600,000 per hectare
  • Elec­tric­i­ty rev­enue only, no agri­cul­tur­al income
  • Project return: 5–8 %

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Sustainability and environmental protection

Envi­ron­men­tal ben­e­fits of agri­v­oltaics:

• 20–30 % low­er water con­sump­tion thanks to shad­ing
• Pro­tec­tion against soil ero­sion
• Bio­di­ver­si­ty pro­mot­ed through flow­er­ing strips
• Ful­ly remov­able with­out seal­ing the land

Con­ven­tion­al solar farms

• Already more than 45,000 hectares of farm­land used in Ger­many
• Risk to bio­di­ver­si­ty from large mono­cul­ture areas

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Trends: hybrid solutions and local value creation

The next stage of the ener­gy tran­si­tion will not be shaped by pho­to­voltaics alone, but by intel­li­gent com­bi­na­tions of tech­nolo­gies. Hybrid ener­gy con­cepts are mov­ing into focus – above all the com­bi­na­tion of agri­v­oltaics, util­i­ty-scale bat­tery stor­age and direct pow­er mar­ket­ing.

1. Agri­v­oltaics + bat­tery ener­gy stor­age

• Why stor­age is deci­sive: Solar pow­er is not always gen­er­at­ed when it is need­ed. By inte­grat­ing util­i­ty-scale bat­ter­ies, gen­er­a­tion peaks can be stored and fed into the grid lat­er in a tar­get­ed way.
• Ben­e­fit for oper­a­tors: Greater inde­pen­dence from volatile exchange prices and more pre­dictable rev­enue.
• Exam­ple: Ylek­tra projects with 5–50 MWh of stor­age capac­i­ty that increase the share of direct­ly usable solar pow­er by up to 40 %.

2. Direct pow­er mar­ket­ing (PPAs)

• PPAs (pow­er pur­chase agree­ments) allow elec­tric­i­ty to be sold direct­ly to com­pa­nies or util­i­ties at fixed, long-term prices.
• Ben­e­fit: Inde­pen­dence from fluc­tu­at­ing EEG remu­ner­a­tion and secure rev­enue, often fixed for 10–20 years.
• Mar­ket devel­op­ment: More and more mid-sized com­pa­nies and munic­i­pal­i­ties are sign­ing green pow­er pur­chase agree­ments to meet their cli­mate tar­gets.

3. Local val­ue chains

• Hybrid projects cre­ate new income streams not only for investors but also for farm­ers, munic­i­pal­i­ties and region­al ser­vice providers.
• Rev­enue comes from lease pay­ments, elec­tric­i­ty sales, crop yields and stor­age oper­a­tion.
• Munic­i­pal­i­ties also ben­e­fit from trade tax rev­enue and greater region­al ener­gy self-suf­fi­cien­cy.

4. Syn­er­gies with oth­er tech­nolo­gies

• Com­bi­na­tion with EV charg­ing infra­struc­ture for agri­cul­ture and munic­i­pal fleets
• Hydro­gen pro­duc­tion from sur­plus pow­er (pow­er-to-gas) as a com­ple­ment to bat­tery stor­age
• Dig­i­tal con­trol sys­tems for opti­mal load dis­tri­b­u­tion and grid sta­bil­i­ty

Sum­ma­ry: Hybrid solu­tions turn agri­v­olta­ic sys­tems into gen­uine local ener­gy hubs – with high­er returns, more inde­pen­dence and clear ben­e­fits for the region. Ear­ly movers secure not only attrac­tive sup­port but also long-term part­ner­ships in a fast-grow­ing mar­ket.

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Conclusion: why agrivoltaics pays off

Despite high­er upfront costs, agri­v­oltaics offers:

• Dual use of land
• Addi­tion­al income for farm­ers and investors
• Greater pub­lic accep­tance
• A sus­tain­able con­tri­bu­tion to the ener­gy tran­si­tion

Ylek­tra plans, builds and oper­ates tai­lor-made agri­v­olta­ic and hybrid projects with inte­grat­ed bat­tery stor­age. Read our FAQ for landown­ers or get in touch to shape the future of ener­gy togeth­er.