Paper short abstract

This paper explores the role of agrivoltaics amid conflicts over the growing visibility of solar energy expansion in Alberta. Drawing on ethnographic interviews, media, and policy analysis, it highlights how landscapes shape how agrivoltaics is imagined, negotiated, and implemented.

Paper long abstract

A recent expansion of green energy projects across rural areas and farming communities in Alberta has generated polarizing views and attitudes on how the land is lived and managed in a province long shaped by the fossil fuel industry. Farmers find themselves sharing their fields with hundreds of solar panels, impacting their operations and their relationship with the land. As solar energy development becomes more visible across the province, rural and farming communities frequently push to retain their way of life.

Defined as the spatial coexistence of agriculture and solar energy generation, agrivoltaics is presented as a “win-win” model that preserves farmland while increasing area for renewable energy development. While straightforward in concept, lived realities and imagined possibilities of agrivoltaics are far more complex. Economic and regulatory constraints, outdated grids, and local farming practices shape how agrivoltaics is understood and implemented, and narrow conceptualizations of what agrivoltaics looks like limits farmers’ own imaginaries.

Drawing from ethnographic interviews and media and policy analysis, this paper argues that agrivoltaics is not simply a technical solution, but a political and cultural project. When presented through narrow and universal models that overlook local realities, these technologies can contribute to uncertainty, uneven adoption, and persistent tensions over land. These representations strongly shape whether communities see agrivoltaics as an opportunity, a risk, or simply another imposed development. This paper raises questions on how we can guarantee a just transition for those whose livelihoods depend on shifting agro-energyscapes.