Elevated solar panels can share farmland with crops when panel spacing and crop shade-tolerance are matched, producing two harvests from one field.
energy ~ irradiance * panel_coverage
crop_yield ~ light_under_panels * shade_tolerance
- Field grid size — management zones across the shared solar-plus-crop field.
- Panel coverage — fraction of the field shaded by elevated solar panel rows.
- Solar irradiance — incoming sunlight available to both panels and understory crops.
- Crop shade-tolerance — how well the chosen crop variety performs under partial panel shade.
Agrivoltaic trials show shade-tolerant crops like leafy greens can maintain 80-90% of open-field yield while the same land also generates solar power.