The Center for Applied Building Science

Spain has opened Europe's first commercial-scale agrivoltaic olive grove — the Extremadura Agrivoltaic Complex covering 800 hectares in Badajoz province — combining 150 megawatts of elevated solar panels with a fully operational olive oil production operation on identical land, generating clean electricity and premium agricultural output simultaneously.

The installation mounts bifacial solar panels on 4.5-metre-tall steel structures spaced to allow full mechanised olive harvest equipment to operate beneath without modification. Partial shading from the panels reduces olive tree water consumption by 28 percent during Spain's increasingly intense summer drought periods — a critical advantage as Extremadura receives only 450 millimetres of annual rainfall. Olive yield per hectare has increased by 12 percent compared to unshaded control plots due to the moderated temperature and reduced water stress during critical fruit development months.

The dual revenue stream — 150 megawatts of solar electricity at 45 euros per megawatt-hour and premium extra-virgin olive oil certified as sustainably produced — makes the Extremadura complex financially superior to either pure solar or pure olive cultivation on the same land, establishing a replicable model for Spain's 2.5 million hectares of existing Spanish olive groves.

Source: Iberdrola Spain, Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Joule, 2025