Dual harvest, double trouble: Tackling EPC barriers in agrivoltaics design

Agrivoltaics is more than simply placing solar panels on farmland or letting livestock roam around conventional installations. It is about creating powerful synergies between energy generation and agricultural production, while maximizing land productivity, boosting farm resilience, and advancing both food and energy security. 
In this moving landscape, developers and EPC contractors face growing design complexities, requiring innovative, practical, and cost-effective solutions to make these systems viable and scalable. Although the market seems to offer advanced technological solutions, the Agrivoltaic sector is still far from standardizing its products, technologies, and processes for plant development and construction.
In this session, we will discuss all technical and engineering challenges from a European perspective, with representatives of key international players explaining how most of the current issues can be addressed. We will also discuss which agricultural products to select for projects, focusing particularly on agronomic considerations rather than energy assessments.

The panel will discuss about critical issues in agrivoltaics project planning and construction. 
•    Potential innovative technologies to improve the efficiency and yield of agrivoltaic systems
•    Integrating agrivoltaics with different crop types and their agronomic benefits
•    Hybridization with energy storage systems and other renewable technologies
•    Future challenges and opportunities for the sector in Italy
•    Analysis of economic prospects and cost-reduction strategies

Program

Moderators:
Emiliano Bellini, News Director, pv magazine Global
Sergio Matalucci, Editor in Chief, pv magazine Italy

Introduction
Presentation of the session and objectives
Overview of the Agrivoltaic market in Italy and Europe

Institutional presentation on the state of the art on Agrivoltaic technology
Raffaele Rossi, SolarPower Europe

EPC challenges in European agrivoltaics
Lennart van Walsum, Global Solar Council

EPC challenges in Italian agrivoltaics
Rolando Roberto, Italia Solare

Panel discussion with:
Giuseppe De Benedictis, Goldbeck Solar
Alejandro Cardona, Soltec
Valerio Natalizia, ECO The Photovoltaic Group
Sascha Krause-Tünker, Next2Sun