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The first field crop agrivoltaics project

Located 20 minutes west of Dijon, this project foresees the installation of photovoltaic trackers on 54.3 hectares (135 acres) of land with poor agronomic potential used for field crops by three farmers. An innovative rainwater recovery and irrigation system will allow the introduction of truffle production on an adjoining 4 ha of land.

The project, with construction beginning in January 2025, will be the first to combine solar trackers and field crops in France.

Centrale en cours de construction

As well as producing renewable electricity, this agrivoltaics project aims to:  

  • Reduce the crops’ needs in water resources by decreasing evapotranspiration thanks to the panels, enabling the farmers to adapt to climate change, and notably to the increasingly frequent periods of drought; 

  • Promote sustainable farming practices, notably by allowing part of the land to be converted to organic agriculture;  

  • Shield and sustain the three agricultural holdings thanks to the crops’ protection from drought, the agricultural investments borne by the project and the payment of a financial allowance to the farmers. 

As well as adapting the solar plant’s design to agricultural requirements, the teams are advising the farmers regarding the most suitable technical itinerary in terms of mechanization, irrigation and the choice of crop to grow under the panels depending on their tolerance of shade and water stress.

Julien Duthu
The concept that appealed to me in Akuo’s approach is that the panels adapt to the crops, rather than the reverse. The project is a genuine agricultural and energy project, and I haven’t been sidelined as a famer. These last five years, we have suffered between 20 and 30% of losses due to the effects of global warming.
Julien Duthu
Farmer in Sombernon

Our 3 partner farmers

Julien Duthu, Romain Duthu and Eric Fevret are the Sombernon project’s three agricultural partners. Since 2019, Akuo and these three farmers have been working in close collaboration to maximize the project’s synergies. The technology, the distance between the rows, the space at the end of the rows and the access paths have all been designed to meet their requirements and make it easier to manage the plots while meeting the photovoltaic project’s technical and economic constraints. Eric Fevret, former farmer on this land and owner of some of the plots, has also contributed to the co-construction of this project to ensure they can be passed on to his nephew, Julien Duthu.

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Our unique approach: maximize the positive impacts for agriculture

Akuo strives, in all its projects, to go beyond its primary mission by maximizing the positive impacts for the area or farmers. This project thus goes further than field crop production and photovoltaic energy production alone, offering: 

  • Management of the planting of truffle oaks on 4 adjacent hectares of land irrigated thanks to an innovative system that collects and sprinkles rainwater from the panels;

  • A supplementary field crop irrigation test on 2 ha of land through water recovery that will enable crops’ behavior with irrigation to be tested and crops with greater added value to be introduced in this sector;  

  • Compensation paid to the farmers, which will enable them to use the majority of the land for organic farming.

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