Agricultural PV: How to Tap into Europe's Huge Potential for Solar Power in Agriculture

Emilien Simonot is Head of Agrivoltaics for the EMEA and APAC regions at Lightsource bp, one of the leading solar PV project developers worldwide. Emilien is a seasoned senior executive working at the crossroad of energy sector, sustainability and innovation. With over 15 years of experience in renewables and innovation management, he has been involved with agrivoltaics since 2015, first from a venture capitalist perspective and then leading groundbreaking projects for large energy companies globally.

Jiri Bim is a consultant for several Czech companies that are developing PV and Agri-PV project pipelines in Czechia. He deals with aspects of permitting and zoning as well as grid connection and other technical aspects. He has hands-on experience developing ground-mounted PV projects. He is also PhD. student and researcher at FEE CTU in Prague and his main topic are Economic aspects of renewable energy sources. He has focused on agrivoltaics and is also active in establishing legislation for agrivoltaics in CZ and Central Europe. From January 2022 he is a Head of the agrivoltaics section in the Czech Solar Association. Now he focuses mainly on regulation implementation and development large scale photovoltaics and agrivoltaics installations in the Czech Republic.

Growing up on a family-owned farm Fabian Neu was able to gain a deep understanding of farming practices and suitable crop rotations. With several years of expertise in both the agriculture and renewable energy sectors, he has cultivated a deep understanding of sustainable farming practices and clean energy. Following his university degree in Agricultural Science and Economics from the Universities of Bonn and Göttingen, he pursued an internship at a large agricultural enterprise in Australia, notable for its pioneering work in large-scale drip irrigation for crops. Afterward he held a position as a speaker at the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture for over two years, focusing on innovation and digitalization. In addition to gaining political expertise in European funding programs and contributing to guidelines, he was involved in evaluating research proposals in the field of innovative and sustainable agricultural concepts, including Agri-PV. Passionate about integrating agricultural practices with innovative technologies to advance sustainable and efficient agriculture, paired with clean energy, he has been active in the Agri-PV sector for over 3 years now. In 2023 Fabian Neu joined RWE Renewables as a Senior Expert for Agri-PV. He supports the global Agri-PV market development and effectively capitalizes on the synergies between the agricultural and energy industries. He is a Member of the consortium defining livestock-specific guidelines for Agri-PV in Germany under DIN SPEC 91492.

As Head of Public Affairs of Amarenco, Eva Vandest elaborates and operates an influence strategy to boost Solar Energy deployment, the most sustainable and affordable Energy to date. As chair of the "Agrisolar" now "Land-Use and Permitting" workstream at SolarPower Europe, she promotes synergies between Agricultural and Solar sectors to tackle climate change adaptation. She stands for ecological transition promoting regenerative agriculture solutions combined with Solar Energy production in rural areas. Since 2022 she is also Vice-Chair of Global Solar Council. Before being certified in Public Affairs, Strategy and Influence at Sciences-Po Paris, she completed a Master's degree at Sorbonne Law School. She started to work at Amarenco in 2016 after an internship at French Conseil d'Etat.