The Agrivoltaics team is looking to enroll students for course credit in the Spring 2026 semester. Paid opportunities may be available on a case-by-case basis.
Within this VIP, we will be tackling real and important challenges to build towards more sustainable food, energy, and water futures. Each of these food, energy, and water systems are extremely sensitive to a warming climate, and projections of more erratic precipitation will only add to these pressures. We are building the interdisciplinary field of agrivoltaics—the concept of collocating agriculture and photovoltaics (renewable energy from solar panels) as one potential solution.
Students will conduct research to address one or more of the following interrelated questions, including:
- How does atmospheric warming impact changes to food crop performance, and how can agrivoltaics relieve some of this stress?
- How much water savings can we achieve in an agrivoltaics approach without negatively impacting food production?
- Which crops are most suited for this approach?
- How does this approach boost the soil microbiome and the missions of sustainable agriculture?
- How much do these trends and patterns vary among crop species and geography (where does agrivoltaics work best / least well)?
- How can we design better solar arrays to balance light capture for energy production vs. light transmission to plants for food production?
- What do decision makers (farmers, politicians, energy producers, etc.) see as challenges and opportunities for agrivoltaics?
This project involves working together to bring together fresh ideas, knowledge, and ways of thinking to solve some of the biggest challenges of our generation!
For more information about this team, please visit: https://uavip.arizona.edu/agrivoltaics-food-energy-and-water-solutions
