What is the agricultural canopy ?
TSE has developed a dynamic and innovative agrivoltaics solution : the agricultural canopy. The mobile solar panels are arranged at a height of 5 meters above the crops. Objective: to produce renewable energy while protecting crops from climatic hazards.
Among the range of agrivoltaic solutions available on the market, some structures stand out for the height of their photovoltaic shades. Their advantages for agriculture: maintaining the agricultural use of plots with a small footprint and guaranteeing the passage of tractors and equipment.
Photovoltaics expert and reference in agrivoltaics, TSE has designed its own system of rotating solar panels placed 5 meters above the crops : The agricultural canopy.
Mobile solar panels with solar tracker
The photovoltaic modules in the agricultural canopy, equipped with solar trackers and managed automatically, tilt according to the sun's path from east to west. They thus generate partial and rotating shade on the plot, which contributes to reducing water and thermal stress in crops.
In fact, in summer, shading reduces plant and soil temperatures. Under TSE's first agrivoltaic demonstrator, installed in June 2022 in Amance (Haute-Saône), the temperature recorded in the ground at a depth of 30 cm was up to 2°C lower than the control zone in 2022 and 2024.
The dynamic management of solar panels also makes it possible to protect crops against climatic hazards, such as hail or spring frost.
Objective: compatibility with agricultural activity
The design of the agricultural canopy was designed to meet the constraints of farmers. The minimum height of solar panels is 5 meters (between 6.5 and 7.5 m when they are flat), with ranges of 27 meters in the north-south direction that allow the passage of tractors and other agricultural equipment. Sowing, harvesting or spreading operations are therefore not affected by the installation. Thus, the system is compatible with all the activities of field crops (wheat, barley, corn, etc.).
Sylvain Raison, farmer in Amance, testifies : “The TSE agricultural canopy is the one that seemed to us the most flexible and the most open. In terms of height, all our equipment goes under the cables at 5 m from above. And in terms of width, apart from the sprayer that we have to partially fold down, it does not pose any particular problem for operation. On harvested safely, with the hopper open, everything went well.”
Another advantage of the agricultural canopy: the land footprint does not exceed 0.5%.
Finally, the project is reversible: the posts are made of driven piles, without a concrete foundation. Located every 11 meters in an east-west direction, they are removed at the end of the lease for the rehabilitation of the plot.
Agricultural canopy experiment program
Since 2022, TSE has been piloting an agronomic experimentation and monitoring program on 4 pilot sites : Amance (70), Brouchy (80), Verdonnet (21) and Souleuvre en Bocage (14). The agricultural canopy located in Brouchy even has an integrated irrigation system.
The objective of the program is to capitalize on data in order to analyze the impact of the agricultural canopy on the vegetative growth of crops, the quality of crops and yields, as well as the protective role of panels against water and heat stress.
TSE aims to constitute the largest agrivoltaic demonstrator in France by continuing to distribute pilot sites across the country, both agricultural canopies and cultivation shade.
