Implementing Community-based Agrivoltaic Systems in SSA: Challenges and Mitigation Strategies

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Recording of Wednesday, June 19, 2024 | The smarter E Europe 2024 | Conference Program | Language: English | Duration: 14:46 .

Challenges and Mitigation Strategies in Implementing Community-Based Agrivoltaics Projects in Sub-Saharan Africa Highlighted by Fraunhofer Institute's Research

The speaker, a social scientist at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, introduces their presentation on research outcomes from an agrivoltaics project focused on community-based systems. The project pertains to mitigating challenges in implementing such systems within West Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. Key agricultural activities in these regions include rain-fed farming and pastoralism, which face significant issues due to unreliable rainfall patterns leading to low productivity and food insecurity. Agrivoltaics, combining agriculture with solar energy generation on the same land, shows potential benefits like crop protection and reduced evaporation. The APV MAGA (Agrivoltaics for Mali and the Gambia) project aims to evaluate different technical systems' economic viability while focusing on social implementation aspects. Research indicates that successful projects hinge largely upon human behavior—how people use, install, or finance technologies—as well as political agendas of stakeholders, cooperation during planning phases, public acceptance issues, maintenance concerns post-implementation.

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Jessica Berneiser
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Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE
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Dr. Philipp Blechinger
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Reiner Lemoine Institut gGmbH
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Bärbel Höhn
BMZ Special Representative for Energy in Africa
Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
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Julian Fleischmann
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Deepak Mohapatra
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Alliance for Rural Electrification
Belgium

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