Agrivolta Partner with us

Mountain agrivoltaics · Uttarakhand, India

Clean power above. A living harvest below.

Agrivolta lifts solar panels just high enough to farm beneath them. On Uttarakhand’s hills, our 400 kW pilot already grows rosemary under the panels — and Merino solar grazing is next.

Partner with us See the live pilot
Solar panel tables on a terraced Himalayan hillside with young rosemary rows planted beneath them, at Agrivolta’s pilot site in Uttarakhand
Actual pilot site · Uttarakhand
Operating solar pilot
400kW
Clean power generated
545MWh
CO2 emissions avoided
431t
Rosemary plants in the ground
5,000

01The problem

Hill solar takes up prime land — then pays to keep it idle.

Uttarakhand’s south-facing slopes rival Rajasthan for sunshine. But mountain solar needs about two hectares per megawatt, and the ground beneath the panels sits barren while operators pay every year to keep it clear.

Illustration: workers clearing weeds by hand beneath solar panels on a steep hillside
Illustrative

₹12–24 lakh a year, just to keep weeds down under a 10 MW hill plant

Land

~2 ha per MW

Mountain terrain commits roughly 20 hectares to a 10 MW plant.

Recurring cost

₹12–24 L a year

Vegetation control for a 10 MW hill plant, at ₹5,000–10,000 per hectare per month.

Terrain

Labour-led

Tractors and mowers can’t work steep terraces, so cleaning and weeding stay manual, every season.

What solar operators face

  1. Uneven land limits mechanisation. Standard equipment can’t move safely across terraces, so O&M stays labour-led.
  2. Cleaning and weeding never stop. Our own 400 kW site needs ₹5–10k a month for cleaning, and weeds return every season.
  3. Erosion adds technical risk. Runoff and loose hill soil disturb access paths and expose foundations.

What mountain farmers face

  1. Returns are front-loaded. Plants, irrigation and labour need capital long before the first harvest.
  2. New crops feel risky. Growers hesitate on non-staple crops without proven yields and buyers.
  3. High-value herbs need assured offtake. Fresh and dried herbs need buyers, storage, processing and price visibility.

The same hillside can do more than generate power.

02The model

One elevated structure. Two living layers.

We raise the panels on pile-founded steel tables and keep their 25° tilt tuned for generation. The ground beneath becomes a managed rosemary crop — or a rotational sheep pasture.

Cross-section of Agrivolta’s elevated solar table Solar modules tilted at 25 degrees on two steel columns with 300 millimetre pile foundations. The low edge sits 1.5 metres above ground. Rosemary grows to 900 millimetres beneath a 2.6 metre bay; in the grazing version, sheep about 900 millimetres tall move beneath a 2.8 metre bay.
Agrivolta Section A–A Rosemary bay Dimensions in mm
  1. 1

    PV canopy

    Panel geometry and the 25° tilt are kept for generation performance.

  2. 2

    Working clearance

    A 1.5 m low edge keeps service corridors open above a crop that stays under 900 mm.

  3. 3

    Root zone

    Rosemary adds productive ground cover without competing with the pile foundations.

  • 1.5 mlow edge
  • 2.6 mbay width
  • 900 mmplant zone
  • Ø300 mmpiles

03The pilot

The pilot is live — already generating, already growing.

On an Uttarakhand hillside, our 400 kW plant runs with rosemary planted beneath its panels: physical proof that the structure, the crop and the slope work together.

Raised solar tables and young rosemary rows on the terraced slope of the pilot site Actual pilot site
Panel tables and rosemary rows on the terraced slope
Rosemary bushes growing beneath a raised solar panel table on the pilot site Actual pilot site
Rosemary establishing beneath a module table
Rows of solar tables along a green hillside beside polyhouses at the pilot site, under a clear sky Actual pilot site
The site, looking along the valley

Pilot datasheetUttarakhand · Live

Solar capacity
400 kW
Project area
10,000 m²
Energy generated
5,44,625 kWh
CO2 avoided
431 tonnes
Rosemary planted
5,000 plants
Yield potential
1.5 t / year
Farmers supported
5

Under-panel capacity planted

5,000 of 20,000 plants

Next validation Realised yield, harvest cycles and market offtake.

04Why Uttarakhand

Rajasthan-class sunshine. Himalayan-cool panels.

Global Solar Atlas data puts a south-facing Uttarakhand site at 97% of the specific PV output of a Rajasthan site — with average air temperatures 11 °C cooler.

Solar modules lose efficiency as they heat up, so cooler mountain air can lift real-world output. Hill solar is not a compromise; it is an under-used resource.

97%

PVOUT parity
Uttarakhand vs Rajasthan

Specific PV output kWh/kWp per year

Uttarakhand1,715.9
Rajasthan1,763.3

Irradiation at optimum tilt GTI · kWh/m² per year · 92%

Uttarakhand2,098.7
Rajasthan2,270.5

Average air temperature °C

Source: Global Solar Atlas, for the compared Uttarakhand (1,381 m) and Rajasthan (305 m) sites.

05Economics

One asset. Up to +83% profit uplift.

Index model: solar-only profit = 100. Planting the suitable ground beneath the panels adds a second income layer on the same footprint — without touching generation.

Rosemary plants
5,000
Harvest potential
1.5 t
Profit vs solar-only
+21%

Assumptions: 20,000 plants at full capacity · 300 g per plant per year · 6 t annual harvest potential · solar-only profit indexed at 100. Indicative model, to be validated against realised yields.

Two growing demand curves. One land parcel.

Illustration: terraced solar arrays across Himalayan hillsides Illustrative

Renewable power

300.5 to 500 GW

India’s non-fossil capacity today, against the 2030 target.

Fresh and dried rosemary with bottles of rosemary oil

Rosemary & fresh herbs

US$542M to 994M

India’s fresh-herbs market by 2030: a 10.6% CAGR, with rosemary growing at 7.6%.

Concept visualisation: sheep grazing beneath elevated solar panels on a Himalayan hillside at sunset

06Next layer · in validation

Solar grazing that grows fine wool.

For larger hill plants, managed Merino flocks replace costly manual weed control — turning a recurring O&M bill into a premium-fibre income stream.

  • 10 MW reference site
  • ~20 ha hill land
  • ~160 target sheep
Concept visualisation

Lower O&M. New wool revenue.

Per year, for the 10 MW / ~20 ha reference site.

Vegetation O&M cost
₹18LToday
₹4.5LWith sheep

−75%

Wool revenue
₹0Today
₹5.4LWith sheep

₹2.4–8.4L range

Gross value created
₹0Today
₹18.9LWith sheep

a year

Assumes a 75% reduction of ₹18L annual vegetation cost, plus average wool revenue from a ₹2.4–8.4L range. Sheep operating costs excluded. The case is anchored in O&M savings; wool is the upside.

Managed grazing, not free grazing.

A professional vegetation-control service with planned paddocks, daily supervision and solar-site safety protocols.

  1. 1
    Plan paddocks

    Map grazing blocks and vegetation targets.

  2. 2
    Fence + water

    Temporary netting, water points and shaded rest zones.

  3. 3
    Graze + measure

    Move the flock by vegetation height and sheep-days per hectare.

  4. 4
    Rest + regrow

    Let the ground recover; residual mowing only where grazing falls short.

Premium fibre, not commodity grazing.

The livestock choice turns an O&M service into a textile-linked revenue stream.

  • ~19 micron

    Fine-wool Merino crossbreeds create premium potential.

  • Wool-only

    A cleaner model, with no meat-trading vertical.

  • Hill fit

    Cooler climate and slopes favour managed grazing.

  • Textile insight

    A family fabric background supports buyer access and supply-chain mapping.

Uttarakhand imported 240 high-quality Australian Merino sheep in December 2019 under the National Livestock Mission to improve local wool quality.

Proven globally. Adapted for Uttarakhand.

  1. USA

    Grazing as a service

    Specialist graziers are paid to manage vegetation across multi-site solar portfolios.

  2. France

    Agrivoltaics by design

    Solar parks planned with livestock access, water, fencing and forage from day one.

  3. Germany

    Ecological land management

    Sheep support biodiversity-oriented solar, with seasonal movement and residual mowing.

  4. Uttarakhand

    Solar O&M + fine wool

    Grazing lowers O&M while 19-micron Merino genetics add textile upside.

Illustration: a field worker measuring pasture height among sheep beneath solar panels Illustrative

Hypotheses to validate before scale.

A working model, not a guaranteed rollout. Each stage has to prove itself on hill solar before the next.

  1. 1
    Field pilot

    Validate sheep-days per hectare, vegetation-height reduction, table clearance and cable safety.

  2. 2
    10 MW reference unit

    Test residual mowing, shepherding, feed supplementation, vet costs and wool realisation.

  3. 3
    Scale only if proven

    Shared flock operations, mobile handling, shearing, wool aggregation and multi-site economics.

07Roadmap

From one pilot block to a mountain platform.

Each step scales the same logic: the structure, the crop and the operating playbook we have already proven on the slope.

  1. Today

    400 kW rosemary pilot

    Operating. 5,000 plants on 10,000 m² — a quarter of under-panel capacity.

    Live

  2. Next

    2 MW agrivoltaic block

    5× the pilot: 5 ha, 1,00,000 rosemary plants and ~30 t of fresh-herb potential.

    Seeking partners

  3. In parallel

    Solar grazing, 10 MW reference

    A Merino field pilot first, then a 10 MW / ~20 ha reference unit with ~160 sheep.

    Validating

  4. Then

    A repeatable mountain platform

    Scale only what’s proven, across Uttarakhand’s hill solar: herbs, shared flocks and wool aggregation.

    Vision
Concept visualisation: rosemary rows beneath elevated solar panels on terraced Himalayan slopes at sunrise
Concept visualisation What a scaled rosemary agrivoltaic block could look like in the Himalayan foothills.

08Partner with us

We’ve proved it at 400 kW. Help us build it to megawatts.

Physical integration is demonstrated. Replication now depends on capital, policy, offtake and mountain execution — and on the right partner for each.

Gap · Capital intensity

Capital partners

Growth equity, structured debt or project finance for MW-scale replication.

Gap · Bankable PPAs

Power offtakers

Corporate buyers, utilities or DISCOM-backed long-term PPAs.

Gap · Policy at MW scale

Policy partners

Agrivoltaics recognition, clearer approvals and hill-region incentives.

Gap · Mountain execution

Execution partners

EPC, logistics and agricultural partners with mountain-terrain experience.

Solar grazing

Solar & O&M operators

Pilot access, site-safety protocols and vegetation-management benchmarks.

Solar grazing

Merino & veterinary partners

Breed sourcing, animal health, monitoring protocols and seasonal flock management.

Offtake

Textile & herb buyers

Micron testing, wool grading and traceable fibre channels — plus buyers for fresh and dried rosemary.

Start a conversation.

Tell us how you’d like to partner. We’ll share the full investor deck and pilot data.

I’m interested as

Email Agrivolta Request the investor deck

01@agrivolta.in

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