Frequently asked questions

With Agri-Solar, farming activities are combined with the generation of solar energy. On the farm plot, rows of solar panels are erected six to twelve metres apart. The growing of crops is alternated with the generation of solar power. This offers benefits such as additional income for farmers, more efficient land utilisation and renewable energy production.

With the environmentally friendly Agri Solar approach, the farmer and the developer employ the principles of nature-inclusive farming. This means (for example) reduced usage of both chemical fertilisers and pesticides, increased diversity in planting (herb-rich grassland) and a major focus on having a green border to the plot that contains a wide range of locally appropriate (i.e. indigenous) vegetation. In this way, Nature-Friendly Agri Solar helps to promote both local biodiversity and healthy soil.

Farmers can earn additional stable income with Agri Solar whilst still continuing with their farming business.

The legal situation differs from country to country. Basically, it boils down to farming production having to be maintained at a minimum of two-thirds of the level that it would be for a comparable plot of land that has no solar panels. In a number of countries this rule is already laid down in the relevant legislation but in some other countries this hasn’t happened (yet).

Agri-Solar combines farming with solar energy generation. The advantages are additional income for farmers, more efficient land usage and renewable energy production. Instead of  1 hectare of farming and 1 hectare of solar panels, you can achieve the same crop and electricity yields/revenues from just 1.4 to 1.6 hectares of land with Agri Solar.

A clover-rich and herb-rich grassland is ideal. These crops benefit from having less direct sunlight and from the slightly milder climate in the field. The herb-rich grassland can be grazed directly by the livestock or bird population or else can be mowed and stored in the barn. Naturally, strip tilling can also be carried out between the panel rows. Especially suitable are those crops that require less sun, such as potatoes, sugar beet or asparagus.

With Agri Solar, it is the combination of crops and solar panels that is key. This promotes sustainable land usage. This automatically means that the area taken up by solar panels is smaller. With Agri Solar, 30% to 40% of the plot is covered by solar panels. With a natural solar park this figure is 50% to 60% and with a traditional solar park this can be as much as 80%.

A combination of solar panels and clover-rich and herb-rich grassland for animal foodstuffs is an especially suitable combination. This grassland can get by with less sun and the damping effect that the panels have in the summer heat ensure that grass grows better in these conditions. Cows, sheep and chickens also like to shelter beneath the panels to escape from the sun and the rain.

This differs from country to country. Most countries are moving towards a situation where the Agri Solar plot gets the same rights and obligations that it would if it were a 100% farming plot. Some countries have moved further along this path than others. Please discuss this with your developer.

Sunvest develops those solar installations that suit local needs, deliver added value for the local community and generate renewable electricity. The key criterion for Sunvest is that each project always delivers benefits for the agrarian community, for biodiversity goals and for the local residents. For one solar park, the focus may be on environmental development whereas with another it may be on ensuring food supply.

Our solar parks promote biodiversity because we design, organise and maintain them with a view to facilitating environmental development. In the case of each plan for a new Sunvest solar park, research is carried out into the area in question by an ecologist and a landscape architect. They look at the action needed to increase biodiversity and to bring indigenous flora and fauna back to the area. The measures may include the creation of ecological corridors, the excavation of pools, the creating of natural embankments, the planting of trees and shrubs and – above all – the creation and maintenance of a herb-rich (herbaceous) and flower-rich grassland. This brings insects back to the area and revitalises the soil. In many cases, the rest then follows automatically.

These are parks that generate renewable energy and help improve local biodiversity. This means that when we are designing the park, we spend a lot of time on ensuring that both it and its greenery are carefully integrated into the surrounding landscape. We take specific measures to encourage the area’s own flora and fauna to flourish within and all round the park. Another essential factor is that during the operational phase, we implement land management measures to improve soil quality.

Biodiversity is declining all over the world, starting with a downturn in the number of insects and deteriorating soil life. Monofunctional use of land is a factor here too. This is why we always ensure our solar parks and Agri Solar installations perform other environmental (and/or other) functions too. At each solar park, we take action to promote biodiversity, doing so during both the design and management phases.

We design our solar parks so that they can be a habitat for local mammals. Animals, for example, must be able to find shelter under shrubs and bushes and find food in the living soil or in berry-bearing (and other) shrubs. Animals also have to be able to find safe shelter when they move through the park. To this end, our fences include suitable passageways at the bottom of or within the fence. In addition, greenery structures are made long, continuous and sufficiently wide.

Where possible, ditches are given a flattened embankment on the sunlit side, so that animals can get into and out of the water easily and so that attractive vegetation grows on the border between wet and dry areas. If the local community wishes, we will excavate pools to give salamanders and others a habitat. In consultation with the water board and the neighbouring farmers, we will look at ways of improving water retention on the plot after heavy rainfall. This can be done for instance by creating a deeply rooted herbaceous grassland or by using weirs to raise the local water level.

At almost all of our nature friendly solar parks, we have been able to take action to provide farmland birds such as the partridge and the quail with nesting sites, habitat and food. These measures include creating broad, flower-rich field borders, winter feeding fields, beetle-rich banks and a healthy and herbaceous grassland. These features attract other birds too, such as those whose habitats include thickets and woods, as they really feel at home in our multiple planted hedgerows and hedges. In field bird areas, we implement compensatory  measures, including creating lake/swampy areas near the solar park.

Encouraging flower-rich and herb-rich vegetation all around and beneath the solar panels benefits pollinating insects such as bees and butterflies. By managing the vegetation ecologically, we ensure that herbs do not get stifled by fast-growing grasses, so that these herbs can bloom and cast their seeds. We limit the use made of manure, chemical fertilisers and pesticides in our parks, with a view to protecting both the herb plants and the insects they attract.

Ecological vegetation management involves practices that prioritize biodiversity and natural balance. Here are key points:

Diverse Mowing Intensity: Some areas are mowed intensively, maintaining a neat appearance, while others receive less frequent mowing to promote biodiversity.

Timing Matters: To remove nutrients, mow when they’re in above-ground plant parts. Optimal timing allows flora and fauna to adapt. Common mowing times are late July, and October.

Balancing Habitats: While some species suffer from mowing, overall habitat preservation benefits both plants and animals. Maintaining untouched portions is crucial.

In summary, ecological management aims for harmony between humans, animals, and nature in our landscapes.

We ourselves see all kinds of insects and butterflies in our parks, as well as many hares and of course all kinds of mice. We come across owl droppings (pellets) and bats and see signs of badgers, foxes, roe deer, otters and ferrets. And we also see many thicket-loving birds as well as birds of prey such as buzzards. In the next few years, we expect these numbers to increase, simply because the vegetation in the park needs a few years to grow and flourish.

Yes! Sunvest supports the certification process that is Ecocertified Solar Parks. As part of these efforts, research is undertaken into biodiversity at solar parks. What’s more, each year we work with an ecologist to carry out our own research at every solar park. We take soil samples, research soil life, catalogue plant and animal species and check that the greenery in our park is growing well. In addition, we also participate in research projects, such as those carried out by Wageningen University into the avian life (bird life) at our solar parks.

Our solar parks are designed with great consideration for the natural environment in which they are situated. In consultation with the local community, we decide the height the panels have to be set at and the greenery that local residents feel is appropriate. We consult with ecologists and landscape architects to select the right greenery for the right environment. These could be hedges, hedgerows or thickets but could also be reed beds, a row of trees or even a wall of trees designed in order to keep the installation out of sight.

Local residents are brought in as early on as possible, namely when we first consider siting a solar park in their vicinity. We ask them for input about landscape issues, such as sight lines and planting and the best way to integrate the installation. Note that we also discuss with them such aspects as noise, potential glare and distances to residences and roads.

Sunvest always brings in landscape architects to help with its design processes. They carry out landscape studies so that we can understand the historic and cultural context and then adapt our designs accordingly.

Each piece of land is in one way or another part of the living environment of a local community. Input from this community is important if we are to develop a high-quality solar park; it also increases its chances of being accepted and supported. This is why Sunvest always develops its solar parks in collaboration with the local community. The interests of the landowner, the local residents, farmers, nature and the local community have to be weighed up, with all these stakeholders needing to benefit from the park in some way.

For each development, we map out who the stakeholders (i.e. interested parties) are, what interest they have in it and the extent of their interest. We then get in touch with the most important stakeholders, so that we can initiate personal discussions with them. In all cases, these naturally include the landowners, the farmers and the residents in the immediate vicinity. There are also local, regional and road authorities to consult, along with water boards. And naturally, special interest groups and experts in the fields of farming, nature and (for example) the cultural-historical landscape are consulted too.

The starting point for Sunvest is that we develop, build and operate a solar park in conjunction with and in collaboration with the local community. We strongly feel that this community needs to benefit from the park, including financially. In practice, the form this participation takes varies from park to park. There are solar parks that we develop jointly with an energy cooperative, for instance, in which case both parties share the workload equally and run an equal level of risk. Naturally, in this case the energy cooperative then owns the other 50% of the park. With some other projects, the local community may wish to play a smaller active role, in which case we will draw up a profit-sharing plan for the neighbourhood.

The idea behind a profit-sharing plan is that a share of the solar park revenues is handed over to the local community. Note that this community runs little or no risk of losing any initial financial contribution it has made. A profit-sharing plan typically consists of a combination of such components as:

• A neighbourhood fund, under which local residents receive a sum that they can use to make their farm/agricultural business more sustainable and/or to benefit the environment and/or to facilitate the energy transition process.
• An environment fund that is used to boost the local farming and/or residential community.
• Solar installations for local civic organisations such as schools and sports clubs
• The option to issue bonds (debenture loans) to the solar park that are repaid in 10 to 15 years’ time and that earn a good rate of interest [for the local residents]
• Solar panel installation offers, under which people can have solar panels installed on their own roof at a discount
• Free educational information packages
• And note that we are also open to other ideas from the local community.

Local participation ensures that plans are improved (further) and also creates acceptance and support for solar parks, nature-inclusive farming and the energy transition process.

We distinguish between two different types of participation that are closely related to each other:

Process participation: involving local residents and other stakeholders in the development, construction and operation of solar parks.

Financial participation: Local residents and other local stakeholders are given the opportunity to take a financial stake in a solar park and to share in the revenues it generates.

Sunvest’s solar parks are built by its sister company ProfiNRG, which is responsible for the construction, and subsequent dismantling and removal, of the solar park installation. As part of the authorisation process, Sunvest agrees with the relevant municipality and landowner that at the end of the park’s lifetime it (Sunvest) will organise a full clean-up of the park and that it will do so in such a way that the land can then be used for its original purpose again.

We have our parks built in as nitrogen-neutral a way as possible. In practice, building in as nitrogen-neutral a way as possible means that as far as possible, the equipment that is powered by combustion engine is replaced by electrically powered equipment. Some of this electrical equipment is already available (mini-diggers, telescopic handlers) but some is not yet available (piling rigs, mobile cranes).

The manufacturing, transportation and installation of solar panels requires much less energy than they generate. A typical solar panel earns back the energy used to produce it in less than 2 years.

Yes, but there’s still a lot more to do: solar panels consist of silicon, (a little) silver and adhesive, glass plates, an aluminium border, copper cabling and a junction box. A large proportion of these materials can be reused but the actual recycling effort has only just commenced. In twenty years’ time our first solar park will be dismantled, by which time we hope to be able to usefully recycle more than 95% of the components of our solar panels. In fact, the bases and cables are already being fully recycled.

This work is undertaken by our Asset Management colleagues. Following completion and acceptance of the constructed solar park, the operational phase commences. In most cases, the sustainably generated electricity is supplied to buyers via the public electricity grid or else is converted into hydrogen. During this phase, the entire focus is on optimising the production of solar energy. The outputs from the solar park are continually monitored, faults are rectified as soon as possible, components are replaced promptly and the solar panels are cleaned when necessary.

Greenery management at the solar park is essential in order to actually achieve the desired added environmental value in practice. The park’s green border has to be properly maintained too. Good management ensures that the thicket actually gets thicker and that the panels are kept out of sight. We are often asked to keep the thicket low enough to ensure that existing sight lines are not affected. The management activities are organised by Sunvest; we prefer to bring in local parties to do this work, especially adjoining residents or the landowner themselves. They are very familiar with the local situation and can respond right away to local residents’ wishes or complaints too. If it is a Agri Solar park then the park is naturally managed by the farmer themselves.

We manage ecologically, without using pesticides. We use extensive mowing management that takes the natural cycles of herbs, butterflies, insects and birds into account. Depending on the desired end result for the soil, we will ‘mow’ the land under and between the panels using sheep or mechanical means, removing the grass clippings as we do so. Using small livestock keeps the land more agricultural, so that after 25 years it can be quickly brought back to its previous state for farming purposes. Using mechanical mowing and removing the clippings makes the soil barer more quickly, which creates a better basis for circular farming or environmental development once the park has been dismantled.