Agrivoltaic single-axis trackers between crop rows

Protects divisions against a zero denominator.

Market range Not applicable (numerical guard).

Used in guards and flags, so no number is written inline.

Market range Not applicable (literal zero).

Used in the CRF, the degradation series and flags.

Market range Not applicable (literal one).

Converts fractions to percent.

Market range Exact by definition of percent.

Converts a percent input to a fraction.

Market range Exact by definition of percent.

Takes the midpoint of a published low-high range (mounting and installation costs of the ISE guideline).

Market range Not applicable (midpoint of a range).

Converts annual energy to an average power and full-load hours to a capacity factor.

Market range 8,760 h (8,784 in a leap year).

Converts the installed capacity from MW to kWp.

Market range Exact.

Converts kWh to MWh.

Market range Exact.

Converts MWh to kWh in the land-use intensity.

Market range Exact.

Converts hectares to square metres in the land-use intensity.

Market range Exact.

Displays the CAPEX in million EUR.

Market range Exact.

Exponent of total CAPEX on installed DC capacity, applied to the ISE Agri-PV cost of the selected case: specific CAPEX x (capacity / 1 MWp)^(0.87 - 1). Evidence medium: one slope fitted on two printed points of one bottom-up model, a United States fixed-tilt commercial ground-mounted system transposed to a German tracker Agri-PV field; a currency-free ratio, so no USD/EUR or year conversion enters it. The slider is limited to 0.5-2 MWp, the ISE Agri-PV class and inside the 100 kW-2 MW range of the NREL commercial model; the two printed points span 0.5-1 MWp, so 1-2 MWp extends the fitted slope inside the modelled range. Fixed O&M is not scaled.

Market range No independent exponent cited for Agri-PV below 2 MWp.

Size at which the reference case CAPEX applies unscaled. The ISE range carries no size of its own: placing it at 1 MWp, a size printed by the NREL source of the exponent and inside the ISE class, is a modelling choice of this calculator.

Market range ISE Agri-PV class: 0.5-2 MWp; NREL commercial ground-mounted model: 100 kW-2 MW.

Low end of the ISE range: the low-end reference case, the floor of the scaled model value, the lower bound of the Customized CAPEX and of the CAPEX range flag.

Market range ISE 2024 Agri-PV: 900-1,700 EUR/kWp.

High end of the ISE range: the high-end reference case, the ceiling of the scaled model value, the upper bound of the Customized CAPEX and of the CAPEX range flag. The midpoint case, 1,300 EUR/kWp, is the middle of this range, not a surveyed figure.

Market range ISE 2024 Agri-PV: 900-1,700 EUR/kWp.

Fixed O&M per kWp and year, in constant 2024 EUR, constant over the life and linear in capacity: ISE prints one value without size, and no size law for Agri-PV O&M is cited, so the CAPEX exponent is not applied to it.

Market range No independent range cited.

Economic life over which CAPEX is annualised and energy is discounted.

Market range No independent range cited.

Default of the discount-rate input (0.035).

Market range ISE gives one value; slider 2.5-4.5 % real, no independent range cited.

Documented only. Costs here are constant 2024 EUR without escalation, so only the real rate is consistent with them; the nominal rate is not consumed by any node.

Market range Not used (nominal basis).

Output of year t = year-1 output x (1 - 0.0025)^(t-1). Enters the discounted energy of the LCOE and the lifetime-average output exported to a project.

Market range No independent range cited.

Ground-mounted fixed-tilt reference yield used for the electricity share of the land equivalent ratio, scaled to the site through the tracker baseline.

Market range ISE Germany: 935 (north) to 1,280 (south) kWh/kWp.

Sets the low end of the tracker baseline slider: 935 x (1,372 / 1,280) = 1,002, rounded to 1,000 kWh/kWp, so that the reference fixed system at that site is close to the ISE northern figure.

Market range ISE Germany: 935-1,280 kWh/kWp.

Low end of the ISE Agri-PV LCOE range, used in the range flag.

Market range ISE 2024 Agri-PV: 52-119 EUR/MWh.

High end of the ISE Agri-PV LCOE range, used in the range flag. ISE has no steering loss; this calculator can exceed 119 EUR/MWh at high CAPEX, low yield and strong steering.

Market range ISE 2024 Agri-PV: 52-119 EUR/MWh.

Default of the baseline yield input, and site anchor of the ground-mounted reference yield (1,280 / 1,372 = 0.933).

Market range Site specific; slider 1,000-1,400 kWh/kWp.

Default of the steering loss input and upper end of the published steering cases flagged by the calculator.

Market range Published cases: 13.29 % (corn) to 20 % (apple).

Gives the lower published steering loss, 100 - 86.71 = 13.29 %, used in the 'inside published cases' flag.

Market range Published cases: 13.29 % (corn) to 20 % (apple).

Documented only, to stop it being read as a crop yield: steering raised the light delivered to the trees from 67 % to 91 % of their target. No yield model links light to fruit yield here.

Market range Light share, not a yield.

Documented only: light share reached by standard backtracking, the reference for the 20 % steering loss.

Market range Light share, not a yield.

Denominator of the reference corn yield ratio shown by the calculator.

Market range One season, one site.

Numerator of the reference corn yield ratio (92.9 %), the default of the crop yield input.

Market range One season, one site.

Model value (not an input): share of the field lost to cropping under and around the tracker posts, measured by Gupta 2024 on one east-west tracker layout. DIN SPEC 91434 limits land loss to 15 % for interspace (category II) systems; 7.7 % is inside it, so the land-loss flag reads 1 for this layout. A layout with a wider strip under the rows is outside this calculator.

Market range One measured layout; DIN SPEC 91434 caps land loss at 15 % for category II.

Floor of the crop yield compliance flag, applied to the whole-field crop yield retained.

Market range Normative: >= 66 %.

Ceiling of the land-loss compliance flag and upper end of the non-cultivated area slider.

Market range Normative: <= 10 % (cat. I), <= 15 % (cat. II).

Default of the power density input.

Market range Interspace: 250-430 kWp/ha.

Low end of the power density slider.

Market range Interspace: 250-430 kWp/ha.

High end of the power density slider.

Market range Interspace: 250-430 kWp/ha.

Ground-mounted reference density for the land equivalent ratio and the land-area comparison.

Market range Ground-mounted: 700-1,100 kWp/ha.

Low end of the interspace mounting cost, midpoint used in the indicative CAPEX breakdown.

Market range Interspace mounting: 97-167 EUR/kWp.

High end of the interspace mounting cost.

Market range Interspace mounting: 97-167 EUR/kWp.

Ground-mounted mounting cost, reference of the spacing and mounting surcharge.

Market range Single value.

Interspace installation cost, used in the indicative CAPEX breakdown.

Market range Single value.

Low end of the ground-mounted installation cost; midpoint used in the surcharge.

Market range Ground-mounted installation: 67-100 EUR/kWp.

High end of the ground-mounted installation cost.

Market range Ground-mounted installation: 67-100 EUR/kWp.

Documented only, for orientation. The guideline uses a 20-year life and its own financing assumptions, so this calculator does not compare its LCOE to it.

Market range Single average; different basis.

Documented only: shows the sum method of the land equivalent ratio. Not a target for interspace trackers, whose electricity share is lower.

Market range Overhead agrivoltaics, one site and year.

Anchors the upper end (1.6) of the land equivalent ratio plausibility bound.

Market range Overhead agrivoltaics: 1.6-1.86.

Default of the electricity price input, used only for revenue per hectare and the steering arbitrage, never for the LCOE. It is the whole-round average, presented as a proxy, not an Agri-PV price.

Market range Awards 44-53 EUR/MWh across the whole round.

Low end of the electricity price slider.

Market range Awards 44-53 EUR/MWh across the whole round.

High end of the electricity price slider.

Market range Awards 44-53 EUR/MWh across the whole round.

Default of the crop market revenue input: gross market revenue of the reference crop, before production costs.

Low end of the crop market revenue slider.

High end of the crop market revenue slider.

Variant of the crop value: enter 1,214 EUR/ha (outside the market-revenue slider, so as a separate study) if the arbitrage should use the farmer's margin rather than the gross market revenue. Not consumed by a node.

Market range Gross margin 959-1,351 EUR/ha.

LCOE = (CAPEX x CRF + fixed OPEX) / (E_1 x discounted output years x CRF), all in constant 2024 EUR at a real rate; degradation 0.25 %/yr; no construction period, no taxes, no decommissioning, no inverter replacement beyond what the fixed OPEX covers.

Market range Not applicable (method).

Two price bases, kept apart. Costs and LCOE: constant 2024 EUR at a real WACC. Electricity price and crop revenue: nominal 2025 EUR, used only for year-1 revenue per hectare and for the steering arbitrage. The calculator never subtracts one from the other: the award is a flat nominal value for 20 years, the LCOE a real value over 30 years.

Market range Not applicable (basis declaration).

LER = crop yield retained / 100 + (interspace density x Y1) / (ground density x fixed yield at the site). The site fixed yield is Y0 x 1,280 / 1,372 so that a different site moves both yields together. The tracker gain 1,372 / 1,280 = 1.07 is derived from two sources for the same region (Bruno 2025 simulation, ISE Table 3), not measured on one site.

Market range Heggelbach 1.6 (2017) to 1.86 (2018), overhead layout.

Crop yield and steering loss are two separate inputs. A one-line fit from the corn case (92.9 % at no steering, about 100 % at 13.29 %) would mix two papers and two sites, so it is not built in. The arbitrage outputs give the exchange rate between the two; the user sets both.

Market range No independent range cited.

The 92.9 % default is per cultivated hectare. The calculator multiplies it by the cultivated share (1 - 7.7 %), which gives 85.75 % per hectare of field. The DIN SPEC 66 % floor, the LER and the revenue use the whole-field figure. Using 92.9 % directly would overstate the LER by 0.07 and the crop revenue by about 160 EUR/ha.

Market range Not applicable (basis declaration).

The steering loss comes from two simulations, not from several years of field operation. The 20 % apple case and the 13.29 % corn case are the only published anchors; the slider stops at 30 %, and the stronger strategies of Gupta 2024 (41.1 % of growing-season power for anti-tracking 6 h before solar noon, 45.6 % for whole-day anti-tracking during flowering) are outside the model.

Market range Published: 13.29-20 %; slider 0-30 %.

The tracker baseline of 1,372 kWh/kWp belongs to one southern German site. For another site, enter its own backtracking yield: the reference fixed yield of the LER follows it.

Market range Slider 1,000-1,400 kWh/kWp.

The CAPEX applied (model value or Customized) is all-in, so it is exported to a project as fully financed: the project adds no OSBL, indirect or contingency layer. VAT is excluded, as in ISE. The interspace mounting and installation figures of the ISE guideline are shown as an indicative breakdown and never added on top.

Market range Not applicable (boundary declaration).

Results are checked against 40-180 EUR/MWh. Over all 1,280 corners of the eight sliders (capacity 0.5-2 MWp included) crossed with the three reference cases and the Customized CAPEX at 900 and 1,700 EUR/kWp, the LCOE stays between 42.8 and 175.4 EUR/MWh; the discount-rate slider is limited to 2.5-4.5 % real and the baseline yield to 1,000-1,400 kWh/kWp so that no corner leaves this range.

Market range 40-180 EUR/MWh.

Over all slider corners: land equivalent ratio 0.83-1.41 (bound 0.75-1.6, the top anchored on Heggelbach's first-year 1.6), revenue 8,880-34,264 EUR/ha/yr (bound 7,000-36,000), net yield 700-1,400 kWh/kWp (bound 600-1,420).

Market range Derived, evidence medium.

Excluded: hourly crop light modelling, crop production costs and subsidies, farm-side machinery effects, land lease, grid fees, curtailment, taxes, decommissioning and the value of crop protection (hail, heat). Steering is entered as an annual energy loss; the tracker control law is not modelled. Not modelled: economies of scale on fixed O&M (linear at 15 EUR/kW/yr), sizes outside 0.5-2 MWp, and inverter or tracker replacements as separate components.

Market range Not applicable (scope).

In a project, the electricity outlet is the lifetime-average annual generation after steering and degradation, as average MW. The all-in CAPEX is exported as ISBL with a fully financed battery limit and the fixed O&M as an undiscounted annual cash in constant 2024 EUR. Crop revenue is not exported: it is not an energy flow.

Market range Not applicable (chaining).

Identifier of a reference cost case of the technology_case select. Cases change only what ISE prints per case (the investment); site yield and steering stay inputs.

Market range ISE 2024 Agri-PV: 900-1,700 EUR/kWp.

Identifier of a reference cost case of the technology_case select. Cases change only what ISE prints per case (the investment); site yield and steering stay inputs.

Market range ISE 2024 Agri-PV: 900-1,700 EUR/kWp.

Identifier of a reference cost case of the technology_case select. Cases change only what ISE prints per case (the investment); site yield and steering stay inputs.

Market range ISE 2024 Agri-PV: 900-1,700 EUR/kWp.