The Tata Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) and Preservation and Proliferation of Rural Resources and Nature (PRAN) have set up an agrivoltaics site in Bihar’s Gaya district.

Agrivoltaics combines agriculture and solar power generation in an effort to prevent food production and energy production from competing for land. On a typical agrivoltaics site, shade-tolerant crops grow beneath solar panels, allowing farmers to produce food while generating electricity.

The site was built through a partnership between TCI and PRAN, with assistance from Jain Irrigation Systems, TCI said in a statement. The first agrivoltaics site to operate in Bihar, the TCI-PRAN site, located in the village of Nawada in Shargati block, demonstrates the potential for agrivoltaics to help lower greenhouse gas emissions from farming while increasing productivity.

Farmers and staff from TCI, PRAN, and Jain Irrigation Systems gather outside of a pump house for the inauguration of the agrivoltaics site.

Farmers and staff from TCI, PRAN, and Jain Irrigation Systems gather outside of a pump house for the inauguration of the agrivoltaics site. | Photo Credit: Photo by TCI

Energy generated by a 20-kilowatt solar array at TCI-PRAN site is used to power a grain mill and micro-irrigation systems. With support from TCI, the participating farmers co-financed and collectively own the installation. Access to reliable and affordable irrigation will allow the farmers to begin growing crops during dry seasons.

The farms utilize drip and sprinkler systems, reducing the amount of water needed for cultivation. The farmers will also generate income by charging for grain mill services.

“This site is a significant step forward for agrivoltaics and sustainable agriculture in Bihar, demonstrating that climate-smart technologies can be a boon for both emissions reduction and crop production”, TCI Director Prabhu Pingali said.

“We hope that farmers and policymakers learn from this installation to increase the effective adoption of agrivoltaics in Bihar and throughout India.”

In the future, TCI will aim to provide additional evidence on options for scaling up agrivoltaics systems. At the Nawada installation, TCI researchers will monitor its activities to explore how agrivoltaics might work in Bihar. They will pay particular attention to whether the site fulfills the farmers’ irrigation and grain processing needs and how it affects crop production and farmer incomes.

“We hope and expect that the availability of solar-powered irrigation will enable the farmers to expand their production to include high-value crops that they otherwise would not grow, which should result in increased income,” said Milorad Plavsic, TCI’s manager for strategic initiatives, who oversees the project for TCI.

“This is a unique project as it unites agricultural and solar power production, which enables a group of farmers to experiment with different intercropping designs and maximize income from their land while conserving water and reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” PRAN Director Anil Verma said. “In the following months, the PRAN team will support farmers and their family members through various capacity-building activities to ensure the sustainability of this agrivoltaics site.”

The site in Nawada is part of TCI’s Zero-Hunger, Zero-Carbon Food Systems project, which aims to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with agriculture while improving productivity and benefitting farmer livelihoods in Bihar.

Now in its second phase, researchers are assessing the real-world impact of several emissions-reducing interventions. In addition to agrivoltaics TCI is studying advanced crop management for rice production systems and the use of advanced breeding technology and methane-reducing feed supplements for livestock production.

Published on June 11, 2025