Ukraine Eyes War-Scarred Fields as Testing Ground for Agrivoltaics

Agrivoltaics — the simultaneous use of land for solar electricity generation and crop production — remains at an early stage in Ukraine, even as domestic farms increasingly install solar panels and storage systems for their own operational needs. Unlocking the full dual-use model requires clearing a series of regulatory and legislative hurdles that currently deter investors.

In an interview with the Energoreforma portal, Vladislav Sokolovsky, head of the Solar Energy Association of Ukraine (ASEU), and Oleg Prysyazhnyuk, who chairs the association’s agrivoltaics committee, outlined the main obstacles: ambiguity over the permitted use of agricultural land for such installations, the absence of clear statutory definitions, and unresolved tax and zoning contradictions. The committee is studying international regulatory frameworks and drafting a comprehensive legislative package to address these gaps, drawing on European precedent.

Particular interest has centred on territories damaged by the war. Land that requires extended recultivation could host agrivoltaic arrays planted with bioenergy crops, generating clean electricity while the soil slowly recovers. “Solar panels can provide generation, and bioenergy crops can restore soil fertility and improve its structure,” said Prysyazhnyuk. “After a certain cycle, such lands could potentially be returned to agricultural use.”

For that vision to move beyond theory, practitioners say Ukraine needs a functioning, full-scale pilot on de-occupied or out-of-circulation land. Experts are currently examining whether research stations belonging to the Institute of Bioenergy Crops and Sugar Beets of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences could host demonstration sites — facilities that would let scientists collect empirical data and adapt Western engineering solutions to local conditions, building a domestic knowledge base for future scale-up.

Source: АСЕУ