Agrivoltaic systems, an opportunity to mitigate the risk of climatic hazards in apricot orchards while producing renewable energy

Temperate fruits orchards in the South of France face strong climatic hazards such as late frost during flowering or fruit set, or high temperature and drought during fruit growth and after harvest. Agrivoltaic systems modify the micro-environment around the crops, especially irradiation and temperature, and they can positively mitigate those hazards or negatively affect fruit production through excessive shading for instance. Dynamic agrivoltaic system (AVD) is a photovoltaic system with controlled mobile panels that can be used to optimize climatic hazards mitigation. But it requires AVD steering strategies that are relevant to the biological and environmental needs of the species cultivated below. These needs may vary between day and night, and over the year according to the species phenological stages. Results are already available for vineyards, apple, and pear orchards in Europe, but no result has been published yet for stone fruits. Regarding early apricot cultivars, AVD could mitigate damages due to late frost, excess of irradiation, drought, and high temperature. Optimization of panels movements requires a better understanding of the impacts of dynamic shading on apricot trees production. Here, we address that gap with two experiments in the South of France (Rivesaltes), one with young trees and the other one with adult trees, including full sun and different steered AVD modalities. The study aims at i) creating a prediction tool to evaluate irradiation and canopy temperature under AVD according to site location, date, and structure characteristics; and ii) assessing the effects of AVD and steering strategies on vegetative growth, ecophysiological processes and fruit production on young and adult trees. The applied objective is to define AVD steering strategies to maximize both apricot production and electric production.