Expert insight: Shading crops with solar panels can improve farming, lower food costs and reduce emissions

Agrivoltaics pilot plant by Fraunhofer ISE at Heggelbach, Germany. (Wikimedia Commons) This practice of growing crops in the protected shadows of solar panels is called agrivoltaic farming If you have lived in a home with a trampoline in the backyard, you may have observed the unreasonably tall grass growing under it. This is because many crops, including these grasses, actually grow better when protected from the sun , to an extent. And while the grass under your trampoline grows by itself, researchers in the field of solar photovoltaic technology - made up of solar cells that convert sunlight directly into electricity - have been working on shading large crop lands with solar panels - on purpose. This practice of growing crops in the protected shadows of solar panels is called agrivoltaic farming. And it is happening right here in Canada. Such agrivoltaic farming can help meet Canada's food and energy needs and reduce its fossil fuel reliance and greenhouse gas emissions in the future.