Agrivoltaics Trade Cooling for Crop Light

Agrivoltaic systems can cool crops and farmworkers while reducing evapotranspiration, but the shade that provides those benefits also reduces sunlight and carbon uptake.

A Princeton tomato simulation found lower leaf and perceived worker temperatures alongside 22.4% lower evapotranspiration, while carbon uptake fell under substantially reduced light. Field studies in Italy are extending the research to fruit and aromatic crops, but full-season yield data are still limited and shade tolerance appears crop-specific.