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Paper short abstract

The paper examines how agrivoltaic practices experienced at the intersection of social values, institutional settings and ecological constraints in a green transition, showing cooperation between development and pastoral livelihoods depends less on technology than on governance and local knowledge.

Paper long abstract

This paper questions dominant narratives of the global green transition by examining how large-scale photovoltaic development reshapes socio-ecological relations, livelihoods, and land-use competition in Konya, Türkiye, where a 1,350 MW solar power plant has been established. Focusing on the introduction of agrivoltaic practices and the Under-Panel Grazing model, the study shows how transition occurs in ecological fragility, pastoral traditions, and asymmetric relations between global energy agendas and local communities. Conducted in the Konya Closed Basin, Türkiye’s most water-stressed region, it shows that integrating drought-resilient pastoral practices with energy infrastructure can strengthen rural livelihoods and water conservation. Yet, while agrivoltaics is promoted as a symbiotic solution to land-use conflict, its implementation reveals how institutional arrangements, and regulatory frameworks shape the societal reaction.

Using the Multi-Level Perspective framework and mixed-methods design combining longitudinal ethnography with ten households, stakeholder interviews, and quantitative data, the paper traces how global climate and energy governance interacts with local legal-institutional settings. These interactions transform pastoral knowledge, gendered labour relations, and emerging value categories such as “grass milk.”

The findings highlight both productive and exclusionary effects of green infrastructure. While some households diversify their livelihoods and improve production, the model remains fragile due to informal governance and shifting corporate priorities. The study argues that agrivoltaic transitions depend on participatory arrangements that centre local knowledge, institutional adaptation, and socio-ecological specificity. In doing so, it contributes to debates on justice, governance, and land-use in the energy transition, particularly in societies in semi-arid sunbelt regions facing overlapping climate and development pressures.