Canadian researchers conducted the first nationwide survey of public attitudes toward agricultural voltaics and found strong support across the provinces, with 85.8% of respondents in favor, although preferences varied by configuration. The opposition mainly stemmed from resistance to change, aesthetic concerns and lack of awareness, highlighting the need for public education and updated policy frameworks to enable wider acceptance.
Researchers from Western University in Canada conducted a nationwide survey to investigate community attitudes toward agricultural voltaics.
“In this study, we conducted one of the first nationwide assessments of public attitudes toward agrivoltaic energy in Canada, examining the economic, environmental and social dimensions of renewable energy adoption,” says corresponding author Uzair Jamil. pv magazine. “The findings indicate strong public support for agrivoltaic energy across Canada.”
The research focused on different agrivoltaic topologies, identified provincial variations in adoption levels and analyzed the main reasons for public opposition. According to the team, it is the first study to determine whether the Canadian community favors a specific configuration.
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Jamil explained that among the reasons for opposition, the team cited resistance to change, aesthetics and lack of awareness as the most important. “Public education can address misinformation and increase informed acceptance,” he said. “While the findings indicate strong public support, current regulatory and policy frameworks will need to evolve to enable broader deployment and enable the country to fully realize the economic and environmental potential of the technology.”
The survey was distributed online to adults aged 18 and older from all ten Canadian provinces and three northern territories. It was conducted in December 2023 and produced a final respondent list that included 1,595 people. Participants were shown images of five different agrivoltaic configurations and asked whether they supported them.
The five configurations were a conventional solar farm with grazing animals; raised solar panels to provide shade for farm workers; vertical or single-axis agricultural voltaic systems that enable conventional agricultural equipment; agrivoltaics built into greenhouse roofs to power them; and agrivoltaic energy over perennial crops and trees. In addition to the quantitative responses, open-ended comments were thematically analyzed to identify underlying reasons for opposition or hesitation.
According to the results, 85.8% of respondents support agrivoltaic energy, although preferences varied by configuration and province. Pole-mounted agricultural voltaic systems received an approval rating of 92.6%, while greenhouse farms received 86.5% and solar grazing 85%. Tracking systems using conventional farming equipment received an approval rating of 84.4% across Canada, while agricultural voltaic systems for perennial crops and trees scored the lowest at 80.4%.
In terms of provinces, Nova Scotia leads with the highest support at 95.6%, followed by Manitoba at 93%, British Columbia at 92.9% and Prince Edward Island at 92.5%. Quebec had a support rate of 91.1%, Ontario 91%, Saskatchewan 90% and Alberta 89.4%. New Brunswick had 87.6%, Newfoundland and Labrador 82.9%, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut 70%, and Yukon recorded the lowest level at 53.3%.
“The ranking of concerns leading to opposition to agrivoltaics shows a variety of factors, with personal opinions and resistance to change being the most important, cited by 67 participants,” the team said. “Concerns about aesthetics and land use, as well as a lack of knowledge or misunderstandings about agrivoltaic systems, were both mentioned by 62 participants, while concerns about animal welfare and health were raised by 54 of the respondents, and concerns about the environment and sustainability were identified by 45.”
Other notable concerns included impact on agriculture or crops, with 37 mentions; health and safety risks, with 21 mentions; technical and practical issues related to system implementation, with 10 entries; and economic problems, which were mentioned the least with only six mentions.
“The results of the study were somewhat unexpected because, as agrivoltaic energy is literally emerging across the US – because it simply makes economic sense – Canada appears to be blocking it with outdated regulations,” says study co-author. Joshua M. Pearcetold pv magazine. “In Ontario there is effectively a ban on installing solar energy on agricultural land – despite literally hundreds of experiments and demonstrations around the world, including in my own laboratory in London Ontario, showing that we can increase crop production for a wide range of food crops.”
“The few Canadians who did not support the development of agricultural voltaics were often not fully aware of the technology and its properties,” he continued. “There is a preponderance of studies showing that agrivoltaic energy will increase agricultural yields. This is counterintuitive but true – and even more so when it comes to extreme temperatures due to climate destabilization.”
The results of the study are presented in “Social Acceptance of Agricultural Voltaics in Canada: Insights into Public Perceptions of Different Technologies and Provinces from a Nationwide Survey,” published in the Journal of Rural Studies.
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