Solar power for agriculture is already common on English farms. According to Defra, 33% of farm businesses in England generated some renewable energy in 2024/25, and solar was the most common source, used on 27% of farms. The image of a fully solar-powered tractor is popular, but the reality is different: most farmers use rooftop solar panels to cut electricity bills, while agrivoltaics and solar water pumps are developing mainly outside the UK.
This guide covers what works on farms today: UK farm solar uptake, the evidence on growing crops under panels, solar irrigation in India, and what “solar tractors” really are.
How solar power works on farms in England
Defra’s farm energy statistics for England show where solar fits. Panels are rarely used to replace diesel for machinery; instead they supply the daytime electricity demand of farm buildings. Defra notes the survey module is still being developed and figures may be revised.
Where the panels go
Most installations are on buildings. In 2024/25, 89% of farms in England with solar had panels on farm building roofs such as barns and sheds, and 9% on the farmhouse roof. Only 6% had panels in fields, down from 9% the previous year.
Who is installing them
Uptake varies by farm type. Specialist pig and poultry farms lead at 66%, followed by mixed farms at 35% and horticulture at 18%. Lowland grazing livestock farms are the least likely to have solar, at 10%. Very large farms (40%) are more likely to have it than part-time farms (23%). Renewable heat was used on 9% of farms, and wind and hydro on 3%.
Why farmers do it
The main driver is money. Of farms with solar, 76% installed it to cut energy bills and 48% for income from selling electricity. 70% reported lower energy costs, and 58% reported direct returns from selling electricity.
Farms still run mainly on diesel. In England, 98% use red diesel, averaging about 13,000 litres a year in 2024/25; dairy farms averaged 26,200 litres and general cropping farms 19,300. 96% use mains electricity. Rooftop solar therefore mostly replaces grid electricity for lighting, ventilation, milk cooling and drying, not tractor fuel.
The dairy sector: a strong fit
Dairy is where the case for solar is clearest. The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) says “over 80% of total energy use on a dairy farm is accounted for by milk cooling, water heating and vacuum pumping”. Milk cooling alone accounts for over a third of consumption, and water heating 25-35% of the bill; AHDB lists solar panels among options for cutting water heating costs.
Milking and cooling happen in daylight hours twice a day, so east-west facing panels and batteries can help match generation to the load. One Irish advisory example expected a farm to save about 20% of its electricity bill, though results depend on the farm, location and tariff.
Agrivoltaics: growing crops and power on the same field
Agrivoltaics (or agri-PV) is, in Fraunhofer ISE’s words, “a technology that allows land to be used simultaneously for farming and generating electricity with photovoltaics”. Germany’s standard DIN SPEC 91434 (2021) defines it so that farming stays the primary use of the land.
How it works
There are three main types:
- Overhead (stilted) systems: panels at least 2.1 metres above the ground, with crops underneath.
- Interspace systems: crops grow between rows of panels, sometimes vertical bifacial panels.
- Closed systems: photovoltaic greenhouses.
Fraunhofer ISE’s 2022 guideline says global agrivoltaic capacity grew from about 5 MWp in 2012 to at least 14 GWp in 2021.
The evidence from Germany
The best-documented results come from the Heggelbach trial near Lake Constance (APV-RESOLA project, 2016-2021), where 194.4 kWp of bifacial panels were installed on stilts over 3,400 square metres of arable land growing wheat, potatoes, celery and clover. Fraunhofer ISE reports:
- 2017: land-use efficiency rose to 160%, with crop yields above 80% of the unshaded reference.
- 2018 (hot, dry summer): potatoes under the panels yielded 103% of the reference while solar output was 83% of a normal solar farm on the same area, a combined land-use efficiency of 186%. The shade helped crops cope with drought.
- Output: the system produced 1,266 kWh per kWp in its first 12 months, about a third more than Germany’s average of 950 kWh/kWp. The farm used about 40% of the power on site, about 70% with a 150 kWh battery.
Results were not all positive. First-year results, reported in 2017, showed clover yield down about 5% and potatoes, wheat and celery down about 18-19% against the reference. Installed capacity per hectare is around 25% lower than a conventional ground-mounted solar farm because the rows are further apart.
Potential benefits
Fraunhofer ISE lists other possible benefits, depending on design: protecting fruit and specialty crops from hail, frost and drought; cutting irrigation demand by up to 20%; collecting rainwater; and reducing wind erosion.
The UK context
A University of Sheffield modelling study (February 2025) found agrivoltaics on suitable British farmland could in theory meet UK electricity demand “more than four times over” while keeping land in farming. The best areas were in Cambridgeshire, Essex, Lincolnshire and the East and South East of England. It is a desk study: the authors say “very little” agrivoltaics research has been done in the UK and the next step should be field experiments. We found no published UK field-trial results for crops under solar panels as of October 2026. For now, sheep grazing under ground-mounted solar is the most common form of dual use in the UK.
Solar water pumps and irrigation
Solar water pumps replace diesel or grid-powered pumps. Panels power a pump, often through a controller or inverter, to lift water from a borehole, well, river or reservoir, and water stored in a tank acts as the “battery”.
Global potential
The Efficiency for Access Coalition’s Solar Water Pump Outlook 2019 framed solar pumps as a potential tool for more than 500 million smallholder farmers worldwide. That is potential reach, not installations; reliable global installation totals are hard to find.
India: PM-KUSUM
India’s PM-KUSUM scheme, launched in 2019 by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), is the largest solar pump programme. It has three components:
- Component A: small (500 kW-2 MW) solar plants on farmers’ land, 10,000 MW in total.
- Component B: 1.4 million standalone off-grid solar pumps.
- Component C: solarising 3.5 million existing grid-connected farm pumps.
The central government pays 30% of the benchmark cost of pumps (50% in north-eastern and hill states and islands), with states adding support. The overall aim was 34,800 MW of solar by March 2026, and MNRE’s page lists the scheme as running until 31 March 2026. A successor has been mentioned by the minister, but its approval is unconfirmed.
Progress figures differ by date and definition. According to a Lok Sabha reply reported in August 2026, over a million standalone solar pumps (about 1.149 million) had been installed by June 2026, with Maharashtra leading at 551,971. The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) gave a lower figure of “over 850,000” solar pumps in February 2026.
The groundwater trade-off
IISD warns that cheap, unmetered solar pumping can encourage over-extraction of groundwater and recommends safeguards. It also notes that subsidy benefits tend to cluster among larger landholders.
Using spare power
IISD reports that in Uttar Pradesh, the company Oorja runs flour mills from solar irrigation systems when the pumps are idle. Users saved about INR 45 per household per month, nearly half their milling costs.
“Solar tractors”: what actually exists
Almost all modern “electric tractors” are battery-electric and charged from the grid, or from a farm’s own solar panels via a charger. A tractor’s roof has room for only a small panel area, far less than the energy a working tractor uses, so on-board panels at most extend runtime.
Monarch Tractor (US)
The Monarch MK-V is a battery-electric tractor, not a solar one: about 40 hp continuous and up to 70 hp peak, with swappable batteries. The company reportedly stopped building tractors in 2025 and laid off nearly all staff by April 2026; Bloomberg reported that its core technology was acquired by Caterpillar. It should not be assumed to be on sale.
Sonalika Tiger Electric (India)
A battery-electric tractor charged from a normal socket in about 10 hours (4 hours with fast charging). It has no solar panels.
GoSun Moonrider 27 (US/India)
Reported in September 2026, this 20 kW (about 27 hp) electric tractor has a 24 kWh battery for up to about five hours’ work and an optional 1.1 kW solar array on board. GoSun says the array adds “about 1.5 hours of additional runtime on a sunny day”, and only in some seasons. It also charges from a 220/240 V socket. Price and sales markets were not stated.
E-Horse (Netherlands)
A light electric tool carrier for crop care such as hoeing, built by Boessenkool with farmer Bastian van der Veen. It has eight solar panels on its roof (space for 12) and a 20 kWh battery, and with the panels carries enough energy for six to eight hours’ work; the split between solar and plug-in charging was not stated. It has been used at scale for hoeing since 2023.
Other kit
Some small field robots and weeders carry solar panels, but we could not verify a UK-market product list. “Solar power tillers” are often searched for, but we found no verified product information, so we make no claims about them.
Smaller solar kit on farms
Electric fencing
Solar fence energisers are widely sold in the UK, for example the Rutland ESS range. A small panel charges a battery, and the energiser sends short high-voltage pulses along the wire. Good earthing and keeping vegetation off the wire are critical. Check panel and battery sizing for UK winter light with the manufacturer.
Milk cooling (off-grid)
Solar cooling matters most where grid power is unreliable. Shell Foundation says 290 million litres of milk were lost in Kenya in 2023 before leaving the farm, especially evening milk that cannot be kept cold overnight. In a three-month pilot of solar fridges with 20 farmers, the implementers reported less spoilage and a 123% rise in daily operating profit. A 2017 field study of direct-drive solar milk chillers in Kenya’s Nakuru area reported that no overnight solar-chilled milk was rejected by buyers over two years and farmer incomes rose by over 30%.
In the UK, dairy farms are grid-connected, so solar mainly offsets the electricity used by bulk tank cooling.
Other uses
Other examples include lighting and ventilation in poultry and pig units, crop drying and grain store fans, water troughs and remote livestock water pumps, and charging electric vehicles and tools.
The UK angle: policy and land use
The government’s Solar Roadmap (June 2025) says solar farms use about 0.1% of UK land, rising to up to about 0.4% for the 2030 target. In England, developers should prefer brownfield and lower-quality land and must justify using “best and most versatile” agricultural land. The Roadmap says “many solar projects are designed to enable continued livestock grazing”, and that the government does “not believe that increased solar deployment poses a threat to food security”. Our guide to floating solar covers one way of siting panels off land.
A Roadmap case study describes the Mack family’s 509-acre arable farm near Sheringham, Norfolk, which got permission in 2013 for a 3.6 MW solar farm on about 20 acres of moderate-quality land. It is still grazed by 40 ewes and their lambs from April to October, giving two income streams: lamb and land rent.
The Roadmap also acknowledges tenant farmers’ concerns about solar on tenanted holdings and notes compensation provisions under the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986.
Farm-scale solar up to 5 MW can earn export payments under the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG), with rates set by suppliers. At the end of August 2026, the UK had 23.2 GW of solar capacity across about 2.13 million installations, according to DESNZ.
Frequently asked questions
Can a tractor run on solar power?
Not fully. Most electric tractors, such as the Monarch and Sonalika models, are battery-electric and charged from the grid or a farm’s solar array. A few, such as the GoSun Moonrider and E-Horse, carry panels, but these only top up the battery; GoSun says its optional array adds about 1.5 hours on a sunny day.
How many UK farms have solar panels, and where do they put them?
Defra figures cover England only: in 2024/25, 27% of farms had solar. Of those, 89% had panels on farm building roofs, 9% on the farmhouse and 6% in fields.
What is agrivoltaics, and can you grow crops under solar panels in the UK?
Agrivoltaics uses the same land for farming and solar power. German trials at Heggelbach showed crops can grow under panels, with better drought resilience in 2018 but lower yields in the first year. A Sheffield modelling study says the UK potential is large, but no UK field-trial results have been published.
How does a solar water pump work for irrigation?
Panels power a pump that lifts water from a borehole, well or river into a storage tank, which acts as the battery. It replaces diesel or grid pumps. India’s PM-KUSUM scheme had installed over a million standalone solar pumps by June 2026.
Is solar worth it on a dairy farm?
Dairy is a strong fit: AHDB says milk cooling, water heating and vacuum pumping account for over 80% of a dairy farm’s energy use, and much of it happens in daylight. Savings depend on the farm, system and tariff.
Do solar farms take land away from food production?
Some land is used, but solar farms cover about 0.1% of UK land, and many are designed for continued grazing. The government says it does not believe more solar threatens food security. Agrivoltaics could combine crops and panels, though UK field evidence is lacking.