Agrivoltaics in Switzerland: 323 TWh of theoretical potential

Switzerland has a theoretical agrivoltaic potential far above its own consumption and almost no installed capacity in that configuration. pv magazine Global reported on 4 September 2026 that a new ZHAW report estimates 323 TWh per year of theoretical potential and identifies legal and administrative barriers as the central obstacle.

The basis for the figure is older. On 2 September 2024 ZHAW published, under the EDGE project funded by the SWEET programme of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy, a theoretical potential above 300 TWh per year, with 225 TWh on open arable land and 85 TWh on grassland, at a production cost of 6 to 8 centimes per kWh. The study classifies the figure as a maximum theoretical potential and records that Swiss law requires agrivoltaics not to weaken agricultural production.

That requirement is the missing permit, and it has no deadline: it depends on agronomic proof crop by crop. Meanwhile the 6 to 8 centime cost is already competitive, and limiting sites to 300 metres from a grid connection still leaves 113 TWh, according to the report.

What unlocks Swiss agrivoltaics is an administrative decision on agricultural land use, not a further fall in module prices.