Comparison between interested parties
On November 27, 2025, the workshop entitled "The Puccini Room" took place at the national headquarters of Federcaccia. "Agrivoltaics: opportunity or green illusion?" The aim of the meeting was to initiate a discussion among stakeholders on the potential impacts of the spread of agrivoltaics in Italy. Representatives of MASE, Parliamentary Commissions, ISPRA, Coldiretti, universities, and other local institutions, as well as, of course, Federcaccia, the initiator, participated in the meeting. They presented their contributions and perspectives on the topic. Given the importance of the topic and the ensuing debate, Federcaccia believes it is useful and necessary, beyond the current report, to highlight some considerations that better illustrate its position.
The protection of agricultural lands
The discussion revealed widespread concern about the risk of excessive agrivoltaic deployment, given the significant incentives available nationwide. There is a particular concern that inadequate and inappropriate management of agrivoltaic project applications could jeopardize the protection of vast agricultural lands nationwide. Data provided by MASE shows that applications for new installations, in certain regions, have already exceeded the energy needs envisaged in the National Energy Plan (PNIEC), thus further endangering the region through increased fragmentation and urbanization of agricultural land. A further underlying problem is that no nationwide selection process has been conducted to determine which agricultural areas should or should not be designated for agrivoltaics. Currently, all agricultural areas nationwide are potentially suitable for agrivoltaics unless otherwise pre-existing.
Renewable energy production
Everyone agrees that it is necessary to incentivize and increase renewable energy production in our country, such as solar energy from photovoltaics. However, it is legitimate to ask why productive agricultural land, primarily intended for the production of foodstuffs, including high-quality ones, should be used instead of urbanized land or other areas with compromised soils. The data presented by ISPRA demonstrates that the projected energy needs for agrivoltaics could easily be met by installing photovoltaics on the urbanized surfaces of existing industrial areas without causing further loss of agricultural land. Furthermore, agrivoltaics has still not been tested enough in our country, and likely only a few types of agricultural crops can coexist with simultaneous energy production. Before promoting and deploying it on a massive scale, scientific testing and a professional assessment would be appropriate to identify the crops and geographic areas where agrivoltaics could be deployed nationwide. It should also be remembered that agrivoltaics would compromise and reduce agricultural production, and therefore the missing production quota would have to be purchased annually from foreign markets.
Studies on photovoltaics
Furthermore, environmental impacts remain, and are still poorly studied and explored, even though most studies conducted abroad on photovoltaic systems in agricultural areas demonstrate significant negative impacts on biodiversity in general. The main problems for wildlife caused by agrivoltaic systems are due to habitat loss and fragmentation, seasonal climate changes, and even direct collisions. Negative effects have been observed on all major fauna (from insects to mammals), and birds, particularly steppe and migratory species, are certainly among the most vulnerable. Another negative impact is the landscape, as these are particularly large and continuous systems, typically covering several dozen hectares, which radically alter the social and landscape context of a vast area. Indeed, there have been numerous protests and local initiatives to obstruct some of these projects currently underway.
Energy share
The final request that emerged from the workshop was that the possibility of radically reducing the planned agrivoltaic area be seriously considered, so as not to result in a loss of agricultural production and, above all, to avoid negative environmental and landscape impacts. The missing energy quota could be easily made up by installing photovoltaic systems on urbanized land. It is also hoped that agrivoltaics be reserved for specific pilot projects, in selected test areas, and subject to careful assessments not only of agronomy but also of their impact on biodiversity. Finally, given the high environmental value of grassland and pasture areas in Italy, it is also requested that these types of crops be excluded from any form of agrivoltaic system (Office of Wildlife and Agro-Environmental Studies and Research, Italian Hunting Federation).
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