Plant production agrivoltaics across southern Australia

The climate of the Swan Valley and Perth Hills wine regions presents unique challenges, such as high temperatures and reduced water availability during the growing season. These conditions make it an ideal candidate for the demonstration of agri-voltaic solutions, where solar panels are installed above the grape vines in a vineyard.

The SW WA Hub, in partnership with industry partners, has installed a first of its kind solar array above a commercial vineyard at Plume Estate in the Perth Hills. This demonstration site will serve as a proof-of-concept for deploying agrisolar in Western Australia’s viticultural systems.

Soil, climate, vine, yield and quality data will be captured at the demonstration site, which will be used for modelling production and economic impacts. This demonstration phase is expected to lead to further investment in research, development and adoption of the concept as part of a national CRC Zero Net Emissions project and a proposed Agrisolar CRC.

The Universities of Melbourne, Adelaide and Western Australia all have similar arrays over trial sites and are helping us to understand the impacts on fruit production.

In collaboration with growers and researchers, the unit will support future codesign efforts to better understand co-benefits and trade-offs and refine the system for broader applicability and scalability in the region. Additionally, the facility will host extension and knowledge transfer activities to engage with local growers, industry stakeholders, and policymakers, promoting the adoption of sustainable energy solutions in agriculture.

This project is supported by the South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub, through funding from AgriFutures and the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund.