The Eurecat Technology Center is participating in TECSOL-FRUT, a project born with the aim of addressing two of the main challenges currently facing the agricultural sector: adapting crops to climate change and advancing toward a more sustainable and decarbonized energy model.
Coordinated by the Catalan Efficient Energy Cluster (CEEC), the initiative is funded by the European Union and Spain’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and brings together five leading organizations to develop and validate an innovative agrivoltaic solution applied to fruit crop operations.
Climate change is altering the natural cycles of crops, speeding up flowering and increasing the exposure of plantings to extreme weather events, such as heat waves, droughts, late frosts or episodes of intense solar radiation. These conditions directly affect productivity, fruit quality, and the profitability of farming operations, underscoring the need to adopt new solutions that boost the sector’s resilience.
In this context, agrivoltaics emerges as an innovative approach capable of combining agricultural production with renewable energy generation on a single surface. In addition to contributing to the decarbonization of the energy system and supporting self-consumption through renewable sources, these installations create a more favorable microclimate for crops by providing shade, reducing plant thermal stress, lowering water evaporation, and protecting farms from adverse weather conditions.
An Intelligent Agrivoltaic Solution to Optimize Agricultural and Energy Production
The main objective of TECSOL-FRUT is to design, implement, and validate an innovative agrivoltaic system based on rigid, orientable photovoltaic technology, with control over the tilt angle of the solar panels, applied to two fruit crop farms located in different autonomous communities. This solution will enable the combination of agricultural production with renewable electricity generation, while simultaneously improving agronomic yield, energy efficiency, and the sustainable use of resources.
As a differentiating element, the project will develop a planning and simulation digital tool based on mechanical, deterministic, and mathematical models capable of predicting the behavior of agrivoltaic systems under different environmental conditions, such as temperature, humidity, or solar radiation. This platform will allow evaluating different operating scenarios, optimizing both agricultural and energy production, and facilitating data-driven decision making.
Furthermore, during the pilot phase, advanced field sensing systems, satellite imagery, and weather predictions will be integrated to feed artificial intelligence models aimed at optimizing irrigation, anticipating crop phenology, estimating yields, and monitoring health status. All of this information will be integrated into a Digital Twin that will provide a global, real-time view of both crop performance and energy production.
