PlusIQ - agrivoltaics: integration as a path to a plus-energy district

With the PlusIQ-AgrarPV project, funded as part of the FFG program "City of the Future", a group of scientists from the Vienna University of Technology (Institute of Art History, Building History and Heritage Conservation, the Research Unit of Law, Institute of Information Systems Engineering), the Austrian Institute of Technology and the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (Institute of Meteorology and Climatology, Institute of Landscape Development, Recreation and Nature Conservation Planning), the Austrian Chamber of Agriculture, and the Figdor'sche Gutsinhabung (Figdor's Estate) to develop inter- and transdisciplinary methods to clarify open questions regarding the use of agricultural PPP technologies on agricultural land. The project will use a specific case study Study - the agricultural areas around Heiligenkreuz/Gutenbrunn Castle - strategies and recommendations were developed that are relevant for the designation of suitable zones for the construction of the systems based on technical, legal, organizational, socio-economic and agricultural aspects.

The simultaneous use of land for agriculture and PV systems is not provided for under current spatial planning regulations in Austria. The Research Unit of Law will therefore investigate in particular whether and to what extent such a research facility can be realized as a real laboratory under the current legal framework and, based on this, how a legal framework for a future sustainable implementation of "Agri-PV" could be designed.

Funded by: FFG

Duration: 02/2022 - 01/2023