The Potential of Agri-PV in Africa

In developing countries, millions of people inhabit rural areas in poverty conditions, relying on agricultural activities for income or sustenance. Small-scale farmers often do not have access to reliable sources of power, and those who do, end up relying on highly pollutant and inefficient diesel-powered solutions.

Agricultural photovoltaics, or Agri-PV, are technical solutions that combine agricultural infrastructure and solar PV. These hold a high potential to simultaneously enable sustainable agriculture and clean energy transitions across Africa. Agri-PV can optimize agricultural land use, provide new revenue streams for rural communities, and enable the adaptation of agriculture to help combat climate change.

Demonstrating the nascent market opportunities for Agri-PV in irrigation, cooling and domestic cooking, GET.invest has prepared a series of Market Insights products on renewable energy applications in agricultural-value chains in Senegal. Our Market Insights package includes a ‘how to’ developer guide, providing essential background information on different applications, as well as a series of model business cases and case studies, all accessible here.

In our upcoming webinar, SolarPower Europe in collaboration with GET.invest, will present the potential of Agri-PV for African markets and lessons learnt from other regions, which have successfully implemented this innovative solution.

Moderator:

• Miguel Herrero, Policy Advisor and coordinator of the Agri-PV workstream, SolarPower Europe

Keynote speakers:

• Nicolas Ritzenthaler, DG DEVCO, European Commission

Panellists:

• Lucie Pluschke, East Africa Hub Manager of “Water and Energy for Food”, GIZ
• Stephan Schindele, Head of Agri-PV, Bay Wa r.e.
• Jo-Anne Dean, Board Member, South African PV Industry Association (SAPVIA)
• Marc Buiting, EU TAF

Please register for the webinar here.