Agrivoltaic System: Current and Future Water, Energy, Food, and Land (WEFL) Needs in Benin, West Africa

Abstract

Water, energy, and food are essential for all humans and require land use. In a land-limited country with high ambitions for solar PV and a growing population, balancing land use for energy and food is necessary to avoid sectorial competition and minimise pressure on land resources. Agrivoltaics, an integrated approach combining energy and food production on the same land, can help to provide clean water, clean and affordable energy, and quality food for the growing population. This innovative approach to the water-energy-food-land nexus (WEFL) has been experimented with and attracted greater research interest and acceptance in many countries, mainly in the North but not so much in Africa. Agrivoltaics is relatively new in West Africa, and minimal research and development have been conducted within the region. As a desk-based study, this paper reviews the WEFL state in Benin and discusses how agrivoltaics could be an asset for current and future WEFL to improve sustainable development in Benin.