Ovilab, une plateforme d’expérimentation et de démonstration agrivoltaïque pour répondre aux attentes des filières ovine et énergie renouvelable

Ovilab, an agrivoltaic experimentation and demonstration platform to meet the expectations of the sheep and renewable energy sectors

Agrivoltaic projects are booming in France and most of the systems coupled with livestock farming concern suckler sheep farmers. Since 2023, agrivoltaics has been regulated by the law on the acceleration of renewable energies and by its implementing decrees and orders providing definitions and a regulatory framework. Agrivoltaics can now be clearly distinguished from ground-based photovoltaics, which concerns the power plants built to date. But beyond the legislative requirements, the agricultural world is still wondering today about the conditions for implementing agrivoltaics. In this context, the Livestock Institute (IDELE) and the Interregional Center for Information and Research in Sheep Production (CIIRPO) have joined forces with the company QAIR France to build an agrivoltaic installation for research and innovation in sheep production on the Mourier site (87). This platform will include two sites: an experimental site and a demonstration site. The experimental site will be established on a 16.2 ha plot where different agrivoltaic infrastructures will be installed: mobile or fixed panels, with differences in inter-row and panel height. This diversity will make it possible to measure the impact of the plant on different parameters (fodder production, microclimate, soil, animal welfare and behavior, work of the farmer, etc.). The demonstration site will serve as a support during visits and will illustrate the diversity of solutions that can be deployed to date in agrivoltaic plants coupled with sheep farming. This unique and unprecedented project called Ovilab will provide the references expected by the sectors and will make it possible to specify the technical framework for a virtuous deployment of agrivoltaics.