In 2019, the viticultural area of Argentina (215,169 ha), Chile (210,008 ha) and South Africa (122,405 ha) represented 7.4 % of the world’s viticultural area [1]. In the same year, wine production was 13, 11,9 and 9,7 million hectoliters in Argentina, Chile, and South Africa respectively and, together, represented 8% of the world’s wine production. Regarding the volume of world wine exports, Chile is currently the fourth exporter, South Africa the eighth and Argentina the tenth [1].

In these countries, most of the vineyards are irrigated; thus, they require the use of energy for underground water pumping and pressurization of the irrigation systems. In addition, they are grown under high levels of solar radiation, which justify the adoption of photovoltaic systems as a practice for climate change adaptation and mitigation in the wine regions of these countries [2], [3].

To analyze the regulatory framework, the following national and regional laws to promote the integration of PV projects with viticulture were evaluated: the Argentine National Law n° 27424/2017: Regime for the Promotion of Distributed Generation of Renewable Energy [4], the Chilean National Law n° 20571/2012 [5] and n° 21118/2018 [6] and the South African Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program (IPP PP) 2011 and Small Projects IPP PP 2013 [7].

For the evaluation of the integration of solar PV projects with viticulture, a study of cases was conducted in ten vineyards that have incorporated PV technology in the last few years. Two of the vineyards were located in Mendoza, Argentina, six in the Maule and O’Higgins Regions of Chile, and two in Stellenbosch, South Africa. To this end, a survey was answered by grape growers and consultants. The survey was structured in three parts: 1) process for the incorporation of PV technology, 2) integration of a PV project with viticulture and 3) SWOT analysis by country.

The social acceptance of PV technology was evaluated analyzing common motivations, obstacles, and facilitating factors to integrate PV projects with viticulture in three participative workshops. Participants included grape growers, researchers, extensionists, consultants, and PV system suppliers from Argentina, Chile, and South Africa. The participative workshops were on-line and conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the first workshop, the answers to the survey were presented and the main results of research on agrivoltaics systems in vineyards, i.e. combination of PV installations with crops on the same land [8], achieved by the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE) were presented in a seminar. In the second workshop, the methodology to deepen the experience of participants for the implementation of PV systems was defined by country commissions. Finally, in the third workshop, the methodology to visualize joint strategies, to enhance facilitators and to identify elements for the construction of a joint future agenda was defined in a plenary session.

Under the regulatory frameworks of Argentina and Chile, grape growers that use energy for irrigation, when incorporating PV systems, consume clean energy and also have the possibility of injecting the surplus of energy into the grid. In Argentina, the power limit to install PV systems to the contracted power established in the law prevents the possibility that the energy activity competes with agricultural production. This discouragement to change land use contributes to sustainable territorial development. The creation of the trust fund for the DGRE may increase research and technology transfer practices such as agrivoltaics. In Chile, the contracts between groups of users represents an opportunity to increase the scale of projects since the installed capacity for end users may not exceed 300 kilowatts. In addition, the ESCO model avoids initial investment and maintenance and reduces energy costs for grape growers in a context of predictable prices. In South Africa, the organization of the generation market still limits the incentive for distributed generation. However, the recent introduction of the CO₂ emissions tax may encourage the replacement of non-renewable energy sources with renewable sources.

Regarding the study of cases, the integration of PV projects with viticulture aimed to improve irrigation distribution to reduce energy costs (Chile and Argentina); to add value to tourism products (Colchagua, Chile); and to contribute to the biodiversity as part of the values of the company (Stellenbosch, South Africa). Although the vineyards included the use precision technologies to optimize the soil-water-plant relationship, agrivoltaics was not mentioned or known practice.

The social acceptance of PV systems responds to the particular socio-economic dynamics of each country. In Argentina and Chile, the motivations are similar. In Chile, the added value that could be obtained from renting agricultural land appears as a distinctive motivation. In South Africa, the motivations are given by an energy crisis and the possibility of reducing costs. Regarding obstacles, the distinctive obstacles in Chile are aspects related to the limitations of technology, those in Argentina are related to the political-economic instability, and those in South Africa are related to the lack of a regulatory framework. Regarding the facilitating factors, the distinctive factor in Chile is the interest of the private sector in investing in these technologies. Finally, the main facilitators common to the three countries are the availability of the solar resource, the scenario of legislative transformation related to the production of renewable energies, and the reduction of production costs in the long term for wine companies.

Although there have been advances in the regulatory frameworks of the countries studied, agrivoltaics is still not mentioned. This, coupled with limited local experience in vineyards, limits communication of the potential benefits in grape, wine and energy production.

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, Jorge E. Perez Peña, upon reasonable request.

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Gabriela L. Acosta, Natacha Pizzolon, Jorge E. Perez Peña and Lucia R. Palazzo. The first draft and final version of the manuscript were written by Lucia R. Palazzo. All authors contributed to the manuscript.

The authors declare no competing interests.

The study was part of the project “Irrigation and energy saving at the 30° southern latitude: Solar energy in vineyards of Argentina, Chile, and South Africa” and was supported by the Perez-Guerrero Trust Fund.