Since the Paris Agreement in 2015, each country has been trying its best to make a responsible effort to preserve the global environment in a sustainable state for future generations on Earth by suppressing the artificial production of greenhouse gases that are accelerating global heating. As a result, Korea, which became the host country of AgriVoltaics2023, continues its carbon-neutral policy. In Korea, the centralization of the population in the metropolitan area and the acceleration of the so-called communalization of rural areas, where the population decreases as the distance from the metropolitan area increases, are also emerging as great social problems. To solve these problems, the solar power generation facility is installed on the agricultural land in a manner that does not impede agriculture, and the farmer directly participates and maintains agriculture and electricity generation by simultaneously generating electricity through agriculture and solar power.
The “agricultural solar power generation” business model to be managed was first presented as early as 1981, when German physicists A. Goetzberger and A. Zastrow presented theoretical verification that agriculture and solar power generation could be combined. In 2004, Akira Nagashima from Japan demonstrated and verified this method. Since 2013, regulations have been enacted and implemented, and their potential has already been proven through thousands of empirical studies. Each continent and country has their own problems and they create solutions to suit their own circumstances. The AgriVoltaics Conference is a platform for sharing and exchanging information between countries, continents and climate zones. This exchange allows us to find smarter ways to develop sustainable food and electricity production for future generations to better preserve the global environment. I think it's time for all of us to come together and work together to find a way.
