A Comparative Review of Sustainable Solar Photovoltaic Applications Under Limited Land Availability

Solar photovoltaic (PV) systems spearhead the growth of renewable energy capacity in the 21st century. Despite lower costs and improved efficiency, the installation of large‐scale PV systems is often impeded by limited land availability. Indiscriminate land procurement causes the loss of biodiversity and agricultural resources. A collective conscience leads to finding alternative PV installations with reduced or zero land footprint. Rooftop PV, building‐integrated PV, solar tree, floating PV, and agrivoltaics are designed and evaluated worldwide. Floating PV systems are applied over waterbodies. Building‐integrated PV, solar tree, and rooftop PV can meet the residential electricity demand. This article presents a multidisciplinary, comparative review of existing and emerging PV applications under area constraints. The PV technologies in this review were chosen based on their land‐saving potential, alignment to sustainable development goals and technical novelty. Area utilization, energy metrics, economic and environmental parameters are identified and compared. The challenges and opportunities of each technology are highlighted in this article. Social, economic, and environmental aspects of land‐sparing PV technologies are discussed. The present and future research directions are identified. Multidisciplinary design aapproach and standardization are required for all new PV systems. Building‐integrated photovoltaics and rooftop PV require detailed urban modeling and simulation. Agrivoltaics systems should be planned with socio‐economic and political synergy. Environmental interactions of PV systems with land and aquatic life are a less studied but growing research topic. Decision‐making frameworks, optimization techniques, intelligent monitoring systems, and efficient designs can aid PV systems to achieve sustainable development goals. This article is categorized under: Sustainable Energy > Solar Energy Sustainable Development > Energy‐Water‐Food Nexus Cities and Transportation > Buildings