Mitigating Food and Solar Energy Conflict with Agrivoltaics and its Economic Implications

Solar energy adoption in the US offers a cost-effective means to meet future energy demands, but its land 17 requirements often overlap with high-yielding cropland, especially in the Eastern Interconnection. We 18 provide a comprehensive economic analysis of the potential of US agriculture to meet solar development 19 targets using utility-scale PV systems on US cropland, and the impact such adoption will have on crop 20 production. We show that to meet 2050 projections, only a fraction (1.67%) of farmland is needed under 21 utility solar. Next, we consider two alternative solar setups, namely a land sparing approach where solar is 22 adopted only on low quality land, and a land sharing approach using agrivoltaic solar systems. We show 23 that utility scale solar on low quality cropland will displace solar production from being concentrated in a 24 few counties to counties further away from transmission lines, and displace a similar number of acres as 25 utility-scale solar. We also show that agrivoltaic setups will require more cropland than utility-scale solar, 26 due to shading effects on yield and an increase in land set aside for panels and buffer regions. In each 27 alternative approach, more regions will not have enough cropland for solar development sites, resulting in 28 lower overall energy generation relative to utility-scale. Utility solar also has the lowest cost compared to 29 the other solar system setups, with land sparing approaches increasing transmission costs and being located 30 in relatively lower generation areas, and land sharing mostly due to high CAPEX costs and increased land 31 demand. Additionally, utility scale solar on low quality land will displace fewer crops (due to being located 32 on lower yielding cropland), and agrivoltaic setups will displace more crops than utility scale solar (due to 33 shading effects and an increase in land left idle).