Agrivoltaics for Noah's Ark – Photovoltaic Rice Landscapes

The winners of the Italian competition for the "best agrivoltaic garden" have now been determined. Agrivoltaics for Noah's Ark – Photovoltaic Rice Landscapes had been promoted last March by ENEA, NeoruraleHub, National Institute of Architecture (IN/Arch), ETA Florence Renewable Energies and the Italian Association of Landscape Architecture (AIAPP).

Winner of the competition is the A-Grid Agrivoltaics and landscapes project by the group led by Fabiano Spano | StudioAlami and composed of Fernando Apollonio, Chiara Costanzo, Gabriele Fanuli, Gaetano Fornarelli, Giovanni Iezzi, Berardo Matalucci, Francesco Saverio Matarazzi, Massimo Ranghetti, Stefano Rovetta, Valentina Marta Rubrichi (StudioAlami), Susanna Tundo (StudioAlami), Salvatore Urro, Vittoria Urso, with external advice from Clara Bondi (Transsolar).

The team will receive the professional assignment for the design of the work, which will be built at the Giulio Natta Innovation Center (Cascina Darsena, Pavia), the first Nature Based Solutions Valley in Italy, where technologies, solutions and patents that can be used in many applications aimed at saving natural and energy resources are developed.

"Climate change is our present," reads the project report, "The project was developed by observing the dramatic climate situation in the area. With the advice of a world-leading partner Transsolar KlimaEngineering, we designed a model based on future climate simulations.
The centerpiece of the proposal is a canopy structure that allows the implementation of different functions in order to mitigate the impact of extreme weather conditions and give the possibility to continue growing rice even under those conditions."

The jury "appreciated the innovative and creative aspect of the project capable of stimulating the public's imagination. The project amazes, it is bold and light, the creative solution responds perfectly to the criteria expressed in the call for proposals by going to combine the instances: naturalistic/environmental, recreational/social and productive. The deep analysis, projected into the future, related to rice cultivation and the shading study was appreciated."