You can basically double a farm's output just by planting your veggies right under solar panels.
March 25, 2026
Original Paper
A Model Predictive Control Approach to Dual-Axis Agrivoltaic Panel Tracking
arXiv · 2603.22554
AI-generated illustration
The Takeaway
By using dynamic tracking to perfectly balance the shade needed by plants with the light needed for power, researchers achieved a 'land use ratio' of 1.9. This means one hybrid farm can produce nearly as much food and energy combined as two separate farms of the same size, effectively doubling the land's utility.
From the abstract
Agrivoltaic systems--photovoltaic (PV) panels installed above agricultural land--have emerged as a promising dual-use solution to address competing land demands for food and energy production. In this paper, we propose a model predictive control (MPC) approach to dual-axis agrivoltaic panel tracking control that dynamically adjusts panel positions in real time to maximize power production and crop yield given solar irradiance and ambient temperature measurements. We apply convex relaxations and