“Ground-mounted systems currently account for 0.1% of installed capacity, while agri-PV systems account for 0.0% (rounded).”

This sentence from a technical report by the ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences, essentially sums up the state of ground-mounted PV in Switzerland in general, and agri-PV in particular.

However, with the country’s Energy Act mandating an increase in renewable electricity generation, excluding hydropower, to 35 TWh per year by 2035 and 45 TWh by 2050, it will be difficult to continue excluding open-field sites.

In 2025, Switzerland’s 8.2 GW of installed PV capacity generated around 8.2 TWh of electricity. Meeting the country’s renewable energy targets, with PV expected to play a pivotal role, would require annual capacity additions of 2 GW to 2.5 GW.

The report notes that it remains an open question whether such volumes can be achieved “with the strong focus on rooftop installations, particularly because the potential of rooftop areas is not being exploited consistently enough under current legal frameworks and subsidy schemes.”

Potential: nearly twice Switzerland’s electricity consumption

The repot begins by outlining the technology’s advantages, which are much the same in Switzerland as elsewhere.

First and foremost is its enormous potential. The report estimates theoretical annual generation potential at 323 TWh. Even if installations are restricted to sites no more than 300 meters from the nearest grid connection point, the potential remains 113 TWh.

“This corresponds to nearly double Switzerland’s electricity demand in recent years and significantly exceeds the projected electricity demand in various net-zero scenarios,” the authors state.

Other drivers include potentially high profitability at suitable sites, the use of land with limited agricultural suitability, diversification of farm income, additional crop protection and climate adaptation benefits, as well as a positive public image and broad social acceptance.

On the latter point, agrivoltaics appear to enjoy greater acceptance than conventional ground-mounted solar – even in Switzerland, where opposition to ground-mounted PV tends to be considerably strong. At least, that is what the studies cited in the report suggest.

Legal hurdles are a key factor

At the same time, a lack of local acceptance is identified as a major obstacle to agrivoltaic projects. Other barriers include uncertain or insufficient profitability and potential restrictions on agricultural operations, particularly where large machinery is used.

Land ownership structures also play a role, as around half of Switzerland’s agricultural land is leased.

Taken together, however, legal and administrative barriers appear to be even more significant.

Article 24 of the Spatial Planning Act (RPG) is central to the issue. For PV installations on agricultural land, the rule is that solar use must not impair agricultural production. Instead, an installation must provide benefits for agricultural production or serve agricultural testing and research purposes.

That requirement alone goes a long way toward explaining Switzerland’s extremely small number of agri-PV installations.

The report cites a 2024 survey that identified 22 installations and estimates that the current total is “fewer than 100” – an estimate that itself appears optimistic. It assumes that these are “primarily research and pilot installations.”

Learning from neighboring countries’ mistakes

To change the situation, the report sets out a series of recommendations.

The first is to provide greater investment certainty, for example by adapting existing support mechanisms to the specific requirements of agrivoltaics. Another option would be to introduce a premium on top of the sliding market premium awarded through auctions, which has been available since 2025 but remains significantly underused. Similar premiums already exist for PV installations on parking areas and for systems with steep tilt angles, which deliver comparatively high winter electricity yields.

At least as important, however, is the report’s proposal to safeguard agricultural subsidy payments for land used for agri-PV, with the authors outlining a number of measures, most notably an amendment to Article 24 of the Spatial Planning Act.

Other recommendations include enabling and supporting local participation structures, such as citizen participation models and local energy cooperatives, as well as establishing dedicated advisory services.

The report also recommends translating national renewable energy targets into targets at the local level. While the cantons currently determine a large share of the legislation relevant to agrivoltaics, they are not required to meet specific capacity expansion targets.

Finally, the authors recommend learning from neighboring countries – and from the mistakes they have already made.

Germany, France, Italy, and Austria are described as being “significantly ahead of Switzerland in the development of agrivoltaics, both in terms of regulation and actual project implementation.”

“There is, therefore, an opportunity to bypass mistakes and focus directly on measures that work,” the report concludes.