{"id":46121,"date":"2026-11-13T15:55:56","date_gmt":"2026-11-13T20:55:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/?p=46121"},"modified":"2026-11-13T15:55:56","modified_gmt":"2026-11-13T20:55:56","slug":"solar-in-switzerland-shelters-orchards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/solar-in-switzerland-shelters-orchards\/46121\/","title":{"rendered":"A 242-kW solar canopy in Switzerland shelters apple, pear and apricot trees with movable panels and nets against hail, rain and frost"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fruit trees need sunlight to grow, and solar panels need sunlight to operate.<\/p>\n

The two would need to compete for the same sunlight, one might assume. <\/p>\n

At the Conthey orchard in Valais, Switzerland, there are apple, pear, and apricot trees that share their location with 242 kWp of solar panels.<\/strong><\/p>\n

How can these solar panels and trees share the same land?<\/p>\n

The orchard that lives on a research site<\/h2>\n

This particular solar panel installation is located on a site in Switzerland and is run by Agroscope.<\/p>\n

The site covers 4,000 square metres<\/strong>, but not just with solar panels.<\/p>\n

Apple, pear, and apricot trees grow there too, using the same land and the same light. <\/p>\n

But they are not competing, no. <\/p>\n

They are forming what is called agrivoltaics, the simultaneous use of the same land area<\/strong> for both solar power and agricultural production. <\/p>\n

Because certain plants are facing threats in Switzerland, companies are looking for innovative ways to address them.<\/p>\n

Insolight is the technology company behind the installation.<\/p>\n

They made the agrivoltaic system, called insolagrin, and aim to use it as a national and international reference point for agrivoltaic research to try to help these crops. <\/p>\n

Challenges facing these crops include hail, rain, and frost, as well as the larger issue of climate change.  <\/p>\n

This project aims to act as a testing ground for newer crop protection solutions<\/strong> and light management systems that could have a lasting impact.<\/p>\n

Four systems share one research site<\/h2>\n

The Conthey site is not to agrivoltaics.<\/p>\n

This orchard has had three previous agrivoltaic installations<\/strong> since 2021.<\/p>\n

While the current project is focused on fruit trees, the others focus on strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries.<\/p>\n

They introduced an \u201cenergy-positive fruits\u201d label on the goods sold from these sites to show that local, sustainable fruit is possible.<\/p>\n

How has this mixture of panels and trees been working?<\/p>\n

\"\"
Insolight<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/h2>\n

How the solar panels and trees share their space <\/h2>\n

For this system, design is key. <\/p>\n

Using a design of both fixed and mobile structures, with semi-transparent panels, the development can be tailored to the trees around it. <\/p>\n

The system can actually control light through dynamic shading<\/strong>, where the panels act like an adjustable sunshade over the trees.<\/p>\n

The additional sunlight that the trees don’t need is then turned into electricity.<\/p>\n

That’s not the only benefit of this system.<\/p>\n

To further combat weather threats, there are additional protection methods.<\/p>\n

Nets and tarpaulins are available for both manual and automatic deployment<\/strong> to protect the crops from hail, rain, and heat waves.<\/p>\n

For frost, they will need another kind of installation.<\/p>\n

The partners of this development want to use this project to assess the positive effects and analyse any potential trade-offs.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, Agroscope says that income diversification for farms could be one of the possible gains worth noting.<\/p>\n

So have these solar panels and fruit trees been sharing their light successfully?<\/p>\n

Insolight<\/a>‘s Conthey orchard project aims to find out. <\/p>\n

Switzerland is making big moves in the solar industry, and this is not their only project.<\/p>\n

They’re doing what others said was impossible in this successful high-altitude project.<\/a><\/p>\n

For the Conthey project, reports are not out yet on the quality or quantity of the yields.<\/p>\n

While there are no figures yet regarding avoided damage or protection from panels and nets, the system was built in September 2025, so results should be out soon.<\/p>\n

If the results are positive, companies could soon see panels as protection as well as power.<\/strong> The important question would then be how much light is too much for the crops to give up? How can the system best balance light in and protection from threats? Switzerland could look to Germany who are also experimenting with agrivoltaics<\/a> to simultaneously use their land.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fruit trees need sunlight to grow, and solar panels need sunlight to operate. The two would need to compete for the same sunlight, one might assume.  At the Conthey orchard in Valais, Switzerland, there are apple, pear, and apricot trees that share their location with 242 kWp of solar panels. How can these solar panels … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":46222,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_focus_keyword":"Switzerland,solar panels,Conthey","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_description":"In Conthey, Switzerland, an agrivoltaic orchard tests panels and nets against hail, rain and frost. No results yet, but the design shows how it could work.","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46121"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46235,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46121\/revisions\/46235"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}