By combining agriculture with photovoltaic technology, Agrivoltaic creates a dual use of the land by optimising crop production and producing energy at the same time. Such a system can be found in HyPErFarm, an EU Horizon 2020 project. It aims to develop and test sustainable business models that combine crop production and energy production using photovoltaic (PV) technology. The project involves multiple stakeholders, including researchers, technology providers, crop producers and consumers.

On June 7, 2023, HyPErFarm invites interested parties to attend a mini-seminar and open demo at AU Viborg to learn more about the Agrivoltaics concept, farmers' perceptions, commercial potentials and much more. The mini-seminar will include researchers, farmers and other stakeholders from the project and will be followed by an open demo in the afternoon, where participants can visit the HyperFarm Agrivoltaic system at AU Viborg and have a chat with the project partners.

Mini-seminar in the morning

In the morning, Uffe Jørgensen from the Department of Agroecology at Aarhus University will welcome participants. After the welcome, Wouter Merckx from KU Leuven will give a short overview of the HyPErFarm project, followed by Miriam Godinez Chavez from Frauenhofer Inst. for Solar Energy Systems ISE, who will discuss the Agrivoltaics concept. Thomas Reher from KU Leuven will present the results of the crop results from the Belgian trials, and Tom Schaeken from Boerenbond will talk about the Belgian farmers' perception of Agrivoltaic.

Participants will also hear about the development of a quickscan web tool for Agrivoltaic from Cas Lavaert from KU Leuven and about what people think, fear and hope for in relation to Agrivoltaic from Gabriele Torma from Dept. of Management, Aarhus University. Claus Hunsballe from Hunsballe Grønt will talk about his experience of converting his plastic windbreak into a solar plant, while Ole Green from Green Agro will talk about planting five hectares of berry bushes between solar panels.

The morning's program will conclude with a presentation from European Energy on the commercial potential of Agrivoltaic and a discussion of the potential for solar cells in the Central Denmark Region compared to the rest of Europe by Marta Victoria and Kamran Ali Khan Niazi from the Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering at Aarhus University. Johannes Wilhelmus Maria Pullens from the Department of Agroecology at Aarhus University will discuss the set-up of the AU demo platform for Agrivoltaic research and present first results on microclimatic effects.

Join us in the field and see HyPErFarm's Agrivoltaic system for yourself

The afternoon program will consist of a field visit to the open demo of the HyperFarm Agrivoltaic system at AU Viborg. Participants will have the opportunity to see the system in action and learn more about how it works. Lunch will be served in the field, and there will be an opportunity to network and have a chat with HyPErFarm partners. 

Possibility to participate online

Participants who are unable to come to AU Viborg can participate in the morning program online. When registering for the event, participants can choose how and when they want to participate.

Read more about the event, see the program and register here