In this edition of New Energy Expert Insights, we sat down with Dr Madeline Taylor from Macquarie University to explore the intersection of distributed energy resources (DER) and agrivoltaics and its untapped potential within the Australian energy sector.
Dr. Madeline Taylor is Director of Research Training and Senior Lecturer at Macquarie Law School, Deputy Director of the Centre for Energy and Natural Resources Innovation and Transformation (CENRIT), and Co-Lead of the Energy, Communities, and Market Regulation Stream at the Transforming Energy Markets Research Centre. She is also a member of the board of REAlliance, an Honorary Associate at the Sydney Environment Institute, and a member of the Sydney Institute of Agriculture. Her research focuses on regulatory frameworks for energy development, including solar, wind, agrivoltaics, offshore wind, and hydrogen.
What are agrivoltaics, and how are they viewed in Australia in the DER context?
“Agrivoltaics” is used to describe the symbiotic land use of agriculture and solar photovoltaics (PV). In the US, the term “agrisolar” has been adopted. In Japan, it is referred to as “solar sharing”, due to the co-location of the first demonstrative projects on farmland classified as ‘devastated farmland’ to regenerate soils and revitalise agricultural activities.
In Australia, agrivoltaics is still an emerging sector. Agrivoltaics represent an immensely important technological, commercial, and socio-legal approach to our energy transition. However, a general awareness of the various opportunities agrivoltaics present in Australia is still lacking. There have been some successful agrivoltaics pilot projects however the agrivoltaics sector has not grown at scale in Australia like it has done in other countries like Germany.
There is enormous potential for agrivoltaics to play an important role in the domestic DER market. For example, the energy generated from solar PV on farms can be aggregated under a virtual power plant (VPP). By joining a VPP, agricultural landholders can not only access the financial benefits associated with VPP participation in the National Electricity Market (NEM), but also share their clean energy with the community.
Why have agrivoltaics not been implemented at scale in Australia? Is there a significant cost hurdle?
While agrivoltaics can be expensive to implement, the crux of the issue is that Australia does not currently have a federal agriculture and renewable energy integration policy. As such, there is no certainty on how emissions abatement and renewable energy implementation will take place in the agricultural sector.
Significant investment in research will be needed to enable broader awareness, research, development and uptake in agrivoltaics. To overcome the cost hurdle, additional investment and funding should be directed towards agrivoltaics, instead of agrivoltaics being overlooked as part of the broader federal budget. For example, in the recent Federal Budget, the Government has committed to setting aside AUD$68 million for agricultural decarbonisation which to date has often focused on methane abatement, diesel substitution, and energy efficiency, but not co-location.
While farmers and some developers are currently driving creative solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on farms, there is a broader opportunity for agrivoltaics to help farmers decarbonise and future proof their business which has not been explored.
What are some future trends and opportunities for agrivoltaics?
For solar farm developers, coupling solar PV with grazing is most evident in New South Wales. This method has been a key focus in Australia because it’s the simplest way of integrating agrivoltaics for the purpose of an environmental and agricultural impact assessment. However, the integration of solar PV and cropping represents a largely untapped opportunity to create synergetic benefits to agricultural activities.
Agrivoltaics can create several benefits to both the solar and agricultural sectors including, but not limited to, additional income streams for agricultural landholders, avoiding land conversion, decarbonisation of agricultural operations, reducing drought and flooding stress, and creating higher solar output by harnessing radiative cooling.
There is also a lot of anecdotal evidence amongst farmers to support the use of agrivoltaics in Australia. For example, the research conducted at the Tatura Smart Farm in Victoria has demonstrated the benefit of solar PV co-location with livestock. That research showed that agrivoltaics were able to reduce the average mortality rate decline of merino twin lambs from 20% in the open to 12% (11% if lamb fleece could be kept dry) via the provision of shade and protection by solar PV.
There is an opportunity for Australia to take the lead in the agrivoltaics sector. However, fundamental regulatory reform is needed and this is the subject of my Australian Research Council Industry ECR Fellowship with my partners NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development and Spark Renewables. We will be creating specific agrivoltaics regulatory conditions, instruments, toolkits, and other guidance to create a thriving agrivoltaics sector in Australia.
Why is there a need for agrivoltaics in Australia given its massive land mass?
While Australia certainly does have a massive land mass, we have very little highly fertile primary agricultural land for intensive broadacre cropping activities. Agrivoltaics has many symbiotic benefits, beyond just providing an additional income stream. Agrivoltaics can benefit farming activities, provide carbon offsets, and assist in reestablishing nature.
In an overseas context, Japan has a large amount of ‘devastated farmland’ and has had issues keeping its current generation of farmers in agriculture. Japan has seen a large uptake in agrivoltaics after the Japanese Government pivoted to a plan to grow the agricultural sector toward global competition via an influx of young farm incentive programs and training, and through a paradigm shift to high value-added niche production, innovative technology integration, and market expansion.1
What has been done at a federal or state level in this country to increase awareness in agrivoltaics? Do farmers know the technology exists?
Farmers may not be aware of agrivoltaics or the potential benefits. The opportunities for agrivoltaics should be integrated into rural energy community engagement at the outset, particularly in Renewable Energy Zone mapped regions. When we speak to agricultural landholders, it is evident that they need to see pilot plans and real data to be able to progress agrivoltaics projects, rather than anecdotal evidence.
Additionally, developers of renewable energy projects should focus more on direct engagement with farmers. Co-designing the PV project with farmers from the outset will help to ensure that the entire project lifecycle supports and enhances agricultural activities. This includes regularly monitoring agricultural yields and outputs, preserving farmers’ right to farm, and requiring developers to undergo an “agriculture induction” to understand and adhere to agriculture-specific standards alongside renewable energy generation.
What regulatory changes would you like to see?
I would like to see the creation of a renewable energy and agricultural innovation tender that is separate from the Capacity Investment Scheme to allow the sector to trial different approaches and provide subsidies. France is leading the way with this approach and has created an innovation tender program of 140MW under both ground-mounted installations and innovative installation capacity including for agrivoltaics. In Ohio, USA, Savion has recently operationalised a utility scale agrivoltaics project with a long-term Power Purchase Agreement with Amazon for offtake from the 180MW facility. Project symphony is an Australian example of how a DER VPP project could be potentially implemented.2 A large scale DER agrivoltaics pilot project in a similar vein will be instrumental in creating the requisite market conditions for commercial implementation.
Crucially, we need to consider how best to create a viable agrivoltaics industry. There are many investors that want to be involved and understand what is going on, but the cost of legal and regulatory uncertainty is currently too high for them to invest.
In a perfect world, how would DER look? Would it be financially incentivised?
It would be beneficial if there were greater incentives for other DER industries that are not rooftop solar. However, we need to think about how we can use an innovation tender process to facilitate this, governed perhaps by a separate regulatory DER taskforce.
From an international perspective, the Australian renewable energy market is highly regarded, but it has a regulatory system which is no longer fit for purpose. We need to look at our policy on manufacturing and energy sovereignty. We need to add value with the Future Made in Australia Act and the National Reconstruction Fund Objectives. If we combine the two, we could do something really bold in the agrivoltaics space.
Do you think the recent draft rule change in integrating price-responsive resources into the NEM appropriately achieves AEMO’s objective of having greater visibility over Consumer Energy Resources (CER)?
We’ve generally seen a low uptake in consumers and operators of price-responsive resources. The core issue has been in AEMO’s ability to have visibility over energy demand where there is a two-way integration of DER. However, the draft rule change seems to have looked at the visibility issues stemming from DER and CER from an economic regulation perspective. Additionally, the reliability part of the draft rule change which allows CER to be used as a stop gap could confuse consumers, particularly around what it means in terms of energy security.
There may be scope for a phased implementation and different instruments to facilitate consumer education and to be more innovative in large-scale DER VPPs.
The Hamilton Locke team advises across the energy project life cycle – from project development, grid connection, financing, and construction, including the buying and selling of development and operating projects. For more information, please contact Matt Baumgurtel.
1As a practical example, please see the Trinasolar agrivoltaics project in Fukuchiyama.
2Project Symphony is an innovative project in Western Australia where DERs will be orchestrated as a Virtual Power Plant to support the future energy market.
