• Energy Research

An agrovoltaic system combines agricultural crop production and energy production in the same place, emphasizing the dual use of land. This article provides a bibliometric analysis of agrivoltaic topics based on publications indexed in SCOPUS, in which either economic assessments of agrivoltaics, agrivoltaic systems for crops and livestock animals, photovoltaic greenhouse and agrivoltaics with open field are discussed, or its ideas are used to analyze certain locations. A bibliometric analysis was conducted using the SCOPUS database. Multiple bibliometric tools, such as R Studio and Biblioshiny, were applied to analyze data for this study. Finally, 121 relevant articles were obtained and reviewed. The results show that the focus topic is a brand-new research area, with the majority of relevant scientific publications concentrated in the last three years, and with much ongoing research. This is why AV-specialized scientific conferences might be the best place to get relevant and up-to-date information, with the highest number being offered in the USA and China. A typical trend in recent years has been researched, focusing on different agricultural aspects. The research results show that scientific publications in recent years mainly focus on short-term predictions, there is no recognized evaluation standard for various prediction analyses, and it is difficult to evaluate various prediction methods so far.

Agrivoltaic systems (AVS) allow the simultaneous use of land—as a limited resource—for crop production and electricity generation. This paper introduces the development prospects of AVS in Hungary with insights into international trends. The most important part is a complex economic analysis and a unit cost analysis of a 38 MWp capacity AVS, considering the most typical basic data in electricity and apple production. The applied risk analysis is based on a Monte Carlo simulation, the distribution function, and probabilities. To introduce the economic facet of the competitiveness of AVS, a comparative analysis was carried out between AVS, ground-mounted photovoltaic (GM-PV) systems, and conventional apple production systems (ConAPS). In the most probable scenario, the AVS was financially attractive (NPV = 70 million EUR under 30 years). Our correlation analysis shows that feed-in tariff (FIT) price and the role of financing are considered the dominant economic factors. A favorable FIT price enhances the profitability of AVS; however, it makes GM-PV systems more profitable compared to AVS, so it negatively affects the competitiveness of AVS systems. AVS operations result in a more balanced unit cost of apples and of electricity compared to the independent operation of GM-PV systems and of ConAPS; in addition, it allows for land saving and more intensive land use.

Over the years, energy is becoming an essential factor with an impact on social, economic, and environmental aspects. More than 2.5 billion people are connected to agriculture worldwide, so the importance of agricultural energy production has become increasingly important. This study provides a comprehensive review of renewable energy, environment, and farm publication trends. Two hundred articles from 1988 to 2022 were analyzed, with special attention devoted to the last three extreme years, using the Scopus database and the Bibliometrix tool for analysis and visualization. Research on this topic experienced significant developments after 2008, with many fluctuations being revealed. Historically, China and the USA were the most productive countries in agricultural energy production advancements. However, in the last three years, the research center’s respective contributions have undergone major changes. China maintained its dominance, but the importance of the USA fell sharply, and new centers (India, Poland) appeared. Biogas is the most popular method which is used and searched in this area between 1988–2022 since it includes both sustainability and locality. However, between 2020–2022, the importance of the circular economy has been highlighted in the literature. Complex energy systems, dual use of land, and energy storage might be the most important challenges for future research.