Global potential of agrivoltaics

The dataset contain the global-scale gridded agrivoltaic potential assessment covering four major crops: wheat, maize, rice, and soybean. Three categories of variables are provided: (1) the Agrivoltaic Light Utilization Ratio (ALUR) for each crop at six Daily Light Integral (DLI) thresholds, (2) the combined agrivoltaic electricity generation potential across all four crops at four fixed DLI thresholds (3) the average DLI during each crop growing season (photosynthetically active photons in the 400-700 nm range). All files are in NetCDF-4 format. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------SCIENTIFIC CONTEXT-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Agrivoltaic systems co-locate solar photovoltaic panels with agricultural production on the same land. A central challenge in agrivoltaic design is determining how much incoming solar radiation can be allocated to electricity generation without compromising crop productivity. This dataset quantifies that allocation globally using the ALUR metric (based on crop specific need for DLI) and translates it into electricity generation potential, providing a spatially explicit foundation for agrivoltaic planning and policy at the global scale. For full methodological detail, including equations and parameter values, refer to "Global potential of agrivoltaics: Agriculture-first and radiation-limited analysis" by Karimzadeh et al. (2026). --------------------------------------------------------------------------------FILE INVENTORY-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALUR FILES (one per crop; each contains 6 variables at 6 DLI thresholds): ALUR_wheat_2014_2023.nc ALUR_maize_2014_2023.nc ALUR_rice_2014_2023.nc ALUR_soybean_2014_2023.nc ALUR units : Percentage (%, 0-100) ELECTRICITY GENERATION FILE: agrivoltaic_electricity_generation_allcrops_harvest.nc Electricity units : GWh yr-1 per grid cell DLI FILES (one per crop; growing-season mean DLI): DLI_wheat_growingseason_2014_2023.nc DLI_maize_growingseason_2014_2023.nc DLI_rice_growingseason_2014_2023.nc DLI_soybean_growingseason_2014_2023.nc DLI units : mol m-2 day-1 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Format : NetCDF-4, CF-1.8 compliant Spatial resolution : 0.1 degrees — ALUR and DLI files 0.05 degrees — Electricity generation file Grid convention : Cell-centre registration; global coverage (90S-90N, 180W-180E) Coordinate system : WGS 84 (EPSG:4326) Missing values : NaN (single-precision float) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------CONTACT-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Creator : Saeed Karimzadeh Affiliation: University of California Davis; Aalto University Email : [e-mail] | [e-mail]