In the light of the workshop "Agrivoltaics and Just Transition", some interesting ideas to better understand this technology with an interdisciplinary vision.
On May 6, 2025, the firstinterdisciplinary workshop on Agrivoltaics and The Just Transition was held at the University School forAdvanced Studies IUSS in Pavia, Italy, as part of the activities of the Italian national PhD inSustainable Development and Climate Change. The event brought together scholars from differentacademic fields and backgrounds (law, sociology, agronomy, engineering, architecture), withthe aim of fostering a multidisciplinary discussion on agrivoltaics technologies and their potentialrole as a driver of a just energy transition. Presentations from invited speakers were followed bya roundtable discussion, where the key themes were addressed from different disciplinaryperspectives and angles.
Beyond the “agriculture vs energy” dichotomy
Agrivoltaics is a technology thataims to combine electricity generation and agricultural or livestock production. It is currentlyexpanding in different geographic contexts and being regulated in several jurisdictions, as it allows –from a policy perspective – the reconciliation of goals that are traditionally seen asconflicting: the deployment of renewable energy and the protection of agricultural land. However, the link betweenagrivoltaics and just transition – that is, whether and under what conditions agrivoltaics canactually support a socially fair energy transition – still requires further investigation. This type ofinquiry, and more generally the study of agrivoltaics systems, necessarily requires an interdisciplinaryapproach, as agrivoltaics raise issues that must be examined using different methodologicalapproaches.
Varied configurations of agrivoltaics
One of the main points thatemerged from the workshop is that agrivoltaics, both from the standpoint of the hard sciencesand the social sciences, is not a uniform technology. While the core idea is relativelystraightforward – the combination of green energy production and agricultural activity – in practice,agrivoltaics systems vary significantly in terms of costs, efficiency, crop productivity, degree of actualsynergies between the energy and agricultural functions, and their level of social, environmentaland landscape integration. Technical differences inevitablyintersect with social and cultural factors, particularly how communities perceive theaesthetic and functional aspects of the installations. This, in turn, affects public acceptance and theparticipatory processes that are increasingly central to the deployment of agrivoltaic projects.
Agrivoltaics as a tool forclimate mitigation and adaptation
Another topic addressed duringthe workshop was the role of agrivoltaics in enhancing resilience to climate change. Agrivoltaics canoffer benefits not only as a mitigation strategy, by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, butalso – in the longer term – as a tool for climate adaptation. In particular, while cropproductivity under agrivoltaics may be slightly lower than in unshaded open fields under normalconditions, during periods of prolonged drought, yields tend to be higher. This characteristic setsagrivoltaics apart from many other green technologies in renewable energy production, which typicallycontribute to mitigation but not to adaptation.
A legal framework intransformation
From a legal standpoint,agrivoltaics challenges traditional instruments of land-use planning, environmental assessment,landscape protection and economic incentives. The hybrid nature of agrivoltaics systems – bothagricultural and energetic – puts into question well-established legal categories designed specificallyfor ground-mounted photovoltaics. Legal systems are thus facing adual challenge: on one hand, to process and integrate data and approaches from other disciplines– agronomy, engineering, sociology, landscape architecture – in order to create a new regulatoryframework that supports, rather than hinders, this technological innovation; on the other, tocreate the conditions for the effective inclusion of the just transition principle in legislation, notonly by creating effective permitting procedures, but by actively promoting virtuous agrivoltaicsmodels. The mere coexistence of agriculture and renewable energy should not be equated with a justtransition. Assuming that agrivoltaics is inherently “just” simply because it merges these twofunctions overlooks the risk of emerging dynamics marked by inadequate local empowerment,poor design choices, and insufficient attention to agricultural productivity. That is why only a truly academicand interdisciplinary perspective can offer the tools needed to consciously guide the legalevolution around these systems. The workshop represented only a first – but essential – step in thatdirection.
Speakers:
Alberto Monti (IUSS Pavia) - Welcome and introduction
Madeline Taylor (MacquarieUniversity Law School) - Agrivoltaics and the three pillars of energy justice
Ivano Scotti (University ofNaples Federico II) - The sociological perspective
Alessandra Scognamiglio (ENEA) - The landscape architecture perspective
Stefano Amaducci (UniversitàCattolica) - The agronomic perspective
Claudio Del Pero - The engineering perspective
Michele Di Vita (IUSS Pavia)b- The European/Italian regulatory perspective
Stefano Moratti (IUSS Pavia) - The tax policy perspective
Lydia Velliscig (IUSS Pavia) - Roundtable session