Beaucaire, June 19, 2023 – EDF Renewables and its partners are inaugurating an agrivoltaic demonstrator on rice crops in rotation with alfalfa. The results of this demonstrator will be used to study the way in which agrivoltaism can respond to the agricultural, environmental and climatic challenges specific to this territory.

Located in the town of Beaucaire in the Gard, this agrivoltaic demonstrator will be used to study the cohabitation between agricultural production and renewable energy production. The effects of the panels on the crop, like that of shading, will be monitored for three consecutive years.

This project, initiated in 2021, is carried out by a consortium of four partners with complementary expertise: EDF Renouvelables for its know-how as a developer, constructor and operator of photovoltaic power plants; REM TEC for the design of the structures on which the panels rest; CIRAD and INRAE to ensure scientific and agronomic monitoring, in conjunction with the French Rice Center for its expertise in the rice sector.

The photovoltaic panels rest at a height of 5 meters on specific structures so as not to hinder the exploitation of the plot and the passage of agricultural machinery. The foundations of the structures are designed to adapt to unstable soil, characteristic of rice cultivation in flooded areas.

This demonstrator will make it possible in particular to study the conditions under which this type of agrivoltaic projects can develop by providing a service to agricultural production and to validate an innovative concept of photovoltaic structure offering a small footprint.

For more than 5 years now, EDF Renewables has been investing in agrivoltaic research in order to develop projects adapted to the specificities of the territories and meeting the needs of agricultural activity. With ADELI, EDF Renewables is strengthening its expertise in agrivoltaics by relying on a local and scientific approach.

EDF Renewables is currently developing around fifty agrivoltaic projects in France, and is already benefiting from feedback from 4 years of experimentation on its agrivoltaic demonstrator located on the EDF Lab les Renardières site (Seine-et-Marne).

Axel Becker, Head of the New Technologies Department at EDF Renewables, has indicated : “EDF Renewables has been investing for several years in research alongside agronomy experts and professionals from the agricultural world. Thanks to three demonstrators in France (Les Renardières, Adeli and Vitisolar), we are carrying out studies on the effects of photovoltaic panels on different crops. This experimental approach is a guarantee of credibility among the agricultural world. The reflections, collaborations and feedback from these demonstrators allow us to identify the most suitable crops and technologies, both agronomically, environmentally and economically. »