The agriculture sector has integrated various renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies, depending on the application and context. Successful initiatives have occurred in all regions, with the greatest uptake being in solar PV applications, especially as the cost of PV panels falls and their efficiency in high temperatures improves. ⁵⁷ In addition to using renewables for self-consumption, farmers produce energy to sell to the grid in the form of bioenergy (biofuels, biogas and solid bioenergy) and renewable electricity (agrivoltaics, small-scale hydropower and wind power), making the sector an energy supplier. ⁵⁸

Hundreds of thousands of solar water pumps and irrigation systems have been installed worldwide, including an estimated 500,000 pumps in South Asia alone. ⁵⁹ The global capacity of off-grid solar pumps for agriculture increased from 804 MW in 2021 to around 1,165 MW in 2022, with the largest total capacities for 2022 to be found in India (1,083 MW), Bangladesh (49 MW) and Ethiopia (17 MW). ⁶⁰ Despite this growth and the more than 80% decline in the price of solar water pumps in the past two decades, the pumps account for only 1% of installed irrigation systems. ⁶¹ Yet momentum is growing, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. ⁶² (See Snapshot: Rwanda.)

Snapshot.RWANDA

Transforming Agriculture and Mitigating Climate Change: The Nasho Solar-Powered Irrigation Project

In Rwanda, as in many Sub-Saharan African countries, the expansion of irrigation is essential for agricultural development, food security and climate resilience. The agriculture sector contributes 90% of the country's food production and 35% of GDP. It is integral to Rwanda's socio-economic development, with around 70% of the population depending on the sector for their livelihoods. However, a large share of the population remains food insecure, particularly in rural areas.

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Transforming Agriculture and Mitigating Climate Change: The Nasho Solar-Powered Irrigation Project

In Rwanda, as in many Sub-Saharan African countries, the expansion of irrigation is essential for agricultural development, food security and climate resilience. The agriculture sector contributes 90% of the country's food production and 35% of GDP. It is integral to Rwanda's socio-economic development, with around 70% of the population depending on the sector for their livelihoods. However, a large share of the population remains food insecure, particularly in rural areas.

Consistent access to water is essential for maintaining and improving agricultural yields, as Rwanda supports diverse crop production throughout the year. However, fluctuating rainfall patterns, water management challenges and competing demands limit farmers' access to reliable water sources. Irrigation plays an important role in securing water for agriculture, yet only around 9.5% of the country's potential irrigable land has formal infrastructure. Inadequate energy access and reliance on costly fuel-based irrigation systems have slowed uptake.

Off-grid solar-powered irrigation pumps offer a solution to these challenges, yet their adoption remains low in Rwanda and across Sub-Saharan Africa due to systemic barriers such as high costs, lack of regulation and limited market development. In 2020, a promising initiative was launched to help surmount these obstacles and enhance agricultural productivity in the Nasho region in the southern expanse of the Eastern Province. The Nasho Solar-powered Irrigation Project, covering around 1,100 hectares, was a collaborative effort between the Rwandan government and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, which channelled USD 54 million in funding to the project.

The project deployed 63 pivot irrigation systems – powered by a 3.3 MW solar plant with 2.4 MW of battery storage – and benefited 2,099 small-scale farmers. Farmers, organised under the Nasho Irrigation Cooperative (NAICO), managed the infrastructure with technical assistance from Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development, ensuring the sustainability of the project. This enabled year-round cultivation, more efficient use of resources (including water and fertiliser), and improved crop yields.

According to some estimations, the system could empower small-scale producers to elevate their annual production from 3-5 tonnes per hectare to nearly 10 tonnes per hectare. Alongside these anticipated crop yield gains, the project aimed to ensure access to and adoption of technologies that enhance agricultural value chains and promote soil conservation. The project also enhanced transport infrastructure, with 24 kilometres of existing roads resurfaced and 10 kilometres of new roads introduced.

The Nasho Solar-powered Irrigation Project is set to expand by an additional 1,050 hectares in 2024. This expansion aims to cut emissions 10% by 2030, enhance food security, and reduce dependency on imported fossil fuels, while increasing the land surface under irrigation. The investment needed to realise this vision is projected to be around USD 280 million, requiring participation from the government, the private sector and international partnerships.

Source: See endnote 62 for this section.

Renewable cooling technologies used for cold storage have helped communities reduce food losses, increase incomes and reach additional markets. ⁶³ In Kenya's agriculture sector, several energy-efficient and solar-powered cooling solutions – such as the off-grid evaporative charcoal cooler, the zero energy brick cooler and solar-powered cold storage – have been affordable and reliable options for small-scale farmers. ⁶⁴ (See Snapshot: Kenya.) Walk-in cold rooms have helped increase farmer incomes in the country an estimated 40% by reducing food loss. ⁶⁵ In Nigeria, solar-powered cooling has enabled farmers and market agents to generate more income and avoid food loss at a lower cost than grid access. ⁶⁶

Snapshot.KENYA

Solar-Powered Cold Storage Solutions Support Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security

Globally, food waste and agricultural losses total more than 931 million tonnes annually. The challenge is particularly acute in rural areas that have limited access to power and inadequate storage facilities, leading to significant spoilage of produce. Cold storage infrastructure has immense potential to reduce these losses in Sub-Saharan Africa, where 30-40% of post-harvest food is lost. The technology will only become more crucial in the context of climate change, with the demand for cooling devices globally expected to quadruple by 2050.

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Solar-Powered Cold Storage Solutions Support Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security

Globally, food waste and agricultural losses total more than 931 million tonnes annually. The challenge is particularly acute in rural areas that have limited access to power and inadequate storage facilities, leading to significant spoilage of produce. Cold storage infrastructure has immense potential to reduce these losses in Sub-Saharan Africa, where 30-40% of post-harvest food is lost. The technology will only become more crucial in the context of climate change, with the demand for cooling devices globally expected to quadruple by 2050.

In Kenya, where a large rural population relies on small-scale farming, the lack of cold storage facilities exacerbates the effects of significant post-harvest losses. An estimated 65% of Kenya's rural population lacks access to the national grid, leading to reliance on kerosene and firewood for energy needs, and presenting challenges to obtaining cold storage infrastructure. In March 2019, the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation (REREC) was established to execute rural electrification projects and lead renewable energy efforts. The initiative has supported the uptake of off-grid solar solutions, including solar-powered cooling.

Off-grid cooling services have been piloted in several areas of Kenya. In 2024, a first-of-its-kind solar-powered cold storage facility for sweet potatoes was inaugurated in Mwea County, by Baridi, a company that provides solar-powered refrigeration across East Africa, and FarmWorks, a Kenyan agricultural company, in partnership with the International Potato Centre (CIP) and the US Department of Agriculture. The project aims to provide affordable solar-powered cooling solutions and received USD 40,000 from the Gender4Climate Africa Challenge, a competition in East Africa that awards funding to organisations that prioritise climate change and gender-inclusive solutions. The project is working to link markets, agribusiness processors and cold chain stakeholders, helping to unify the sector and to reduce risks for small-scale farmers that are more vulnerable to the impacts of food losses and unreliable brokers.

The Indian-based company Inficold developed the solar-powered cooling facility, which can preserve or store up to 5 metric tonnes of agricultural produce, and Baridi was responsible for overseeing the installation. There are plans to expand this project, and CIP and FarmWorks received a grant from the Kenya Catalytic Job Fund to finance the launch of more such containers.

Source: See endnote 64 for this section.

Solar thermal energy, used for both cooling and heating, has diverse applications in the agriculture sector, including for drying and dehydration, cooking, and heating and cooling of greenhouses and other spaces. ⁶⁷ The ICaRE4Farms project, completed in north-west Europe in December 2023, promotes the use of solar thermal energy on farms in sectors that have high hot water demand, and will reduce a projected 1 million tonnes of CO₂ over the project's 10-year lifespan. ⁶⁸

Photovoltaic thermal (PVT) systems, which combine solar PV and solar thermal technologies to produce electricity and heat, offer a potentially more efficient option for livestock and dairy farming than either technology separately. ⁶⁹ An experimental project on a swine farm in Italy found that PVT technology – combined with a solar central unit, thermal energy storage and a heat pump – is fully capable of replacing the use of fossil fuels. ⁷⁰ A project in Germany showed that the technology was efficient and had a payback period of six years. ⁷¹

In the fisheries sector, communities in East Africa and India have successfully adopted solar PV and battery-powered lamps and lighting for night fishing, allowing fishers to save on kerosene costs. ⁷² In Chile, a 1 MW floating solar PV project was implemented on a water storage reservoir to power nearby agricultural activities, covering part of the electricity needs and slowing water evaporation. ⁷³

Agrivoltaics offers an opportunity to reconcile competing land uses for energy and agriculture. Germany, France and Japan were early adopters of agrivoltaics, and other countries have since followed with pilot projects. ⁷⁴ In India, notable projects include the 7 MW peak Grosolar Agrivoltaic in Maharashtra and the 3 MW peak Solar-Agri electric model in Gujarat. ⁷⁵ Case studies in Portugal found that the use of agrivoltaics is more efficient than the single use of land for either agriculture or solar PV, with the generated electricity being used for both self-consumption and as a source of income through sales to the grid. ⁷⁶ As of 2024, the United States had installed a reported 73 MW of agrivoltaics on crop production land and more than 5 GW on grazing land. ⁷⁷ Türkiye launched its first agrivoltaics project in 2023 with a capacity of 122 kilowatts peak. ⁷⁸

Solar mini-grid projects improve energy access for agricultural activities such as irrigation water pumping, food drying, agricultural grinding and milling, and cold storage. ⁷⁹ Sites near agricultural fields are good targets for mini-grid development, as agricultural loads compensate for the small sizes of rural communities, and most agricultural demand occurs during daylight. ⁸⁰ In Nigeria, projects have enabled rural communities to electrify productive uses in agriculture and fisheries, such as using electric motorbikes for logistics and providing power to rice and grain mills and to cold rooms for fish storage. ⁸¹ In Uganda, a hybrid 600 kilowatt peak solar mini-grid with battery storage on the Lolwe Islands replaced some fossil fuel uses for ice making and fish drying. ⁸²

Geothermal energy has many uses in the sector, including greenhouse heating, soil warming, aquaculture, and the drying of fish, grains, fruits and vegetables. ⁸³ The energy is used to heat aquaculture ponds and to dry fish, either directly in drying tunnels (as in Iceland) or indirectly by powering the drying systems. ⁸⁴ For greenhouse heating, geothermal maintains a steady temperature and reduces condensation, mitigating the impacts of pests and fungal growth and improving crop yield. ⁸⁵ Geothermal heating and cooling in fish farming and crop drying has grown in the last decade, although enormous potential remains. ⁸⁶ In 2021, the United States used 122 megawatts-thermal (MW_th) of geothermal for fish farming and 80 MW_th for greenhouse heating. ⁸⁷ More than 28,000 heating or cooling geothermal systems were operating in the country as of 2022 to meet agricultural, livestock farming and aquaculture needs. ⁸⁸

In aquaculture, micro-hydropower systems are used to heat fishponds and to provide the electricity that powers the aquaculture system. ⁸⁹ In the United States, the number of small hydropower systems in agriculture increased around 50% between 2017 and 2022, to more than 2,500 installations. ⁹⁰

The EU and the United Kingdom are the only regions where biogas has been used significantly in agriculture and forestry (compared to the other sectors). ⁹¹ On the supply side, energy crops (such as maize and cereal grains), agricultural residues and manure are feedstocks for biogas and biomethane production. ⁹² Almost all off-grid biogas production for agriculture occurs in South America, with Brazil dominating the world's supply (96.5%). ⁹³

Globally, fish farmers use solid bioenergy – in the form of briquettes, pellets or charcoal produced from woody or crop residues – instead of traditional firewood to dry or smoke fish, with resulting health, environmental and combustion efficiency benefits. ⁹⁴ In the United States, the number of farms that harvest biomass for use in renewable energy has grown from around 9,500 in 2017 to more than 16,000 in 2022. ⁹⁵

Wind energy is used to power productive activities in both agriculture and aquaculture. An aquaculture site in Chile is sourcing all its energy from a nearby wind and solar PV site through a 1.2-kilometre underwater electricity cable. ⁹⁶ On the supply side, wind turbines installed on agricultural lands in Australia and the United States provide valuable income for farmers. ⁹⁷ As of 2022, more than 20,000 US farms had contracts for wind rights leasing, roughly the same number as in 2017. ⁹⁸

Most of the renewable energy technologies used in agriculture and fisheries – from solar lighting to renewable cooling, bioenergy and PV thermal – are energy efficient. ⁹⁹ Modern energy-efficient kilns used for drying fish, such as the FAO-Thiaroye fish processing technique and the Chokor kiln, have been successfully used in sub-Saharan Africa to help reduce fuel consumption and emissions. ¹⁰⁰