Optimisation of agrivoltaic systems within the water-energy-food nexus

Agrivoltaic (APV) systems enable the co-production of food and solar energy, yet their optimal design depends on complex interactions among climate, crops, and policy frameworks. This study introduces a multi-objective optimisation framework that integrates multi-year crop rotation, diverse APV configurations (vertical, one-axis tracking, overhead), and explicit national regulatory constraints across three European countries: Sweden, Germany, and Italy. The model couples photovoltaic (PV) and crop-growth simulations to evaluate trade-offs across the water–energy–food (WEF) nexus. Results show that both climate and regulation strongly shape feasible system geometries. Under Swedish subsidy limits (≤10 % land occupation), one-axis tracking systems achieved total land equivalent ratios (LERs) around 1.25 and water savings near 10 %. Under German yield-retention rules (≥66 %), overhead systems achieved LER around 1.36 and strong economic returns. While under Italian ministerial constraints combined with best practices, feasible designs emerged only in the enhanced WEF scenario (accounting for crop adaptation), achieving LER up to 1.66 with water-use reductions approaching 20 %. These outcomes demonstrate that applying identical policy thresholds across different climates can suppress overall sustainability performance, highlighting the need for climate- and crop-sensitive APV policy frameworks to unlock their full WEF potential. • Multi-year APV optimisation finds optimal row spacing of 5–10 m across Europe. • Strict policy thresholds might leads to unfeasible APV configurations. • Crop yield adaptation enables feasible APV designs under strict policies. • Optimal configuration reaches LER = 1.66 and NPV approaching €3 million in Italy.