The climate protection organization atmosfair has established the country’s first agriphotovoltaic system in Togo, in cooperation with the local company SUNtec. The system feeds its solar power into the Togolese grid and reduces the need for electricity imports. What makes it special is that vegetables are grown beneath the solar panels, efficiently irrigated thanks to the installed drip irrigation system.

The system generates 3,000 MWh of electricity annually and thereby avoids around 2,000 tons of CO2 emissions. The Togolese government plans to reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2030. In total, atmosfair and SUNtec plan five more agriphotovoltaic systems that are expected to produce 15,000 MWh of electricity, roughly 1% of the country’s electricity demand.

The combination of solar panels with irrigation technology is new to Togo. A small portion of the electricity generated is used to operate the pumps that irrigate the fields beneath the installations. Thanks to efficient drip irrigation, two harvests per year are possible, and even during the dry season, growth is not out of the question. As a side effect, the panels protect the plants from excessive sunlight as well as from heavy rains, which are increasing due to climate change.

The systems are being built as part of so-called Agropoles, where food companies are established in parallel to further process agricultural products and thus strengthen the local economy.