In 2022–2023, Bar-Ilan University grew tomatoes between 24 tracking solar modules; the most shaded rows saw fruit yields fall by up to 57%

What if the same piece of land could produce food and generate solar power? That is what the principle of agrivoltaics involves: the coexistence of photovoltaics and agriculture. However, a field test by Bar-Ilan University in Israel shows that combining the two practices is more complex than simply placing panels above a crop field. According to the December 12, 2025, Scientific Reports study ‘Agri-Photovoltaic technology allows dual use of land for tomato production and electricity generation,’ researchers found that the amount of sunlight reaching tomatoes varied by their position relative to the solar panels, with greater shading generally linked to lower productivity.

The experiment was built around moving solar panels

The researchers conducted two field experiments, one in spring 2022 and one in spring 2023, at Bar-Ilan University in Israel. They grew two varieties of processing tomatoes, Heinz 1648 and Heinz 4107, in seven north-south rows between two arrays of photovoltaic panels. The system consisted of 24 single-axis east-west oriented sun-tracking modules, installed at a height of 1.7 meters above the ground. The panels tracked the sun's angle throughout the day, but their physical position over the rows stayed fixed, so rows directly beneath them consistently received the least light regardless of the hour. This configuration allowed the researchers to compare tomatoes receiving different amounts of sunlight in the same agrivoltaic system. The internal control was the central T4 row, with the highest light availability in the system. Its light level was only 1.96% lower than that of nearby open-field plants. The tomatoes were harvested 95 to 98 days after planting.


The darkest rows produced far fewer tomatoes

The clearest effect was seen in the rows located just below the solar panels. Rows T1 and T7 were shaded the most, resulting in losses in fruit yields by 42% and 57%, respectively, when compared with the control row T4. As sunlight increased, the yield losses became smaller. Row T2 had a 13% yield loss, while T6 had a 20% loss. Rows T3 and T5, which received almost full sun, had 0% and 6% loss, respectively. Overall, in the seven rows, there was a 19.4% reduction in fruit yields when compared with conventional cultivation. The study also found that chlorophyll content, total plant biomass, fruit yield, and fruit quality declined as shading increased. The results showed a positive correlation between available light and tomato productivity.

Shade is not automatically bad for crops

The result doesn't mean solar panels are always bad for crops. Agrivoltaic systems can change growing conditions in ways that may benefit plants, especially in hot, dry climates. A 2019 Nature Sustainability study of a dryland agrivoltaic system, ‘Agrivoltaics provide mutual benefits across the food–energy–water nexus in drylands’, found that shading there lowered plant drought stress and increased food production, a result specific to that arid setting, not necessarily one that generalizes to other climates or crops. Tomatoes, however, may react differently depending on the amount of shade they get: a 2021 Oregon State University case study similarly found that total tomato yield fell as shading increased, though some shaded plots had higher water productivity, showing that fruit output isn't the only measure of a system's performance.

Changing the layout changed the result

The Bar-Ilan experiment also examined the effect of reducing the number of tomato rows between the photovoltaic modules. When six rows were used instead of seven, the overall yield loss fell from 19.4% to 13.0%. It fell further to 7.2% with five rows. The researchers also found higher land equivalent ratios in these layouts.

The study found that the solar system produced roughly 29,000 kilowatt-hours per 1,000 square meters during the growing season, and more than double that in the off-season, about 70,000 kilowatt-hours, when no crops were competing for sunlight. The study's economic analysis found that combined annual net income from tomato sales and electricity generation in the seven-row agrivoltaic system was 9.54 times higher than income from tomato production alone under conventional farming; the electricity revenue, not the tomatoes, drove most of that gain. These figures are specific to this experimental system and should not be taken as a universal result for any agrivoltaic farm.

The real challenge is sharing sunlight

The Israeli experiment provides a useful lesson about the future of agrivoltaics. Solar panels and crops can coexist on the same land, but it is contingent upon the configuration. Too much shade in the wrong place can greatly reduce tomato production. Proper shade management can also affect water use and the crop’s growing conditions. For farmers and solar developers, the question may be less about whether panels and tomatoes can co-exist in a single field, and more about how that field should be designed. The results from Bar-Ilan suggest that row spacing, panel arrangement, and the amount of sun reaching each crop must be considered together. Land sharing, this experiment shows, doesn't always mean equal sunlight sharing.