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Starlight hosts “Community Laboratory” on agrivoltaics
Starlight hosts a community laboratory to integrate agrivoltaic systems into the local landscape of Friuli. The ‘first of its kind’ in Italy
19 November | 2024
On Saturday, November 16, a “Community Laboratory for Agrivoltaics” was held in Torviscosa, promoted by the Department of Architecture of the University of Florence in collaboration with Starlight and Soc. Agricola Tenuta ai Laghi with the supervision of ENEA.
The community laboratory was a discussion and engagement process with the local community, exploring themes and values related to the landscape. This aimed to guide possible scenarios for integrating agrivoltaic systems into agricultural activities and the landscape.
The event began in the morning with a walk in the green area of Località Arsa, then moved to the Information and Documentation Center (CID) of Torviscosa in Piazzale Marinotti for a social lunch. The afternoon working tables saw the participation of local citizens, researchers, local institutions and politicians, agricultural operators, and entrepreneurs.
Participation is commonly used in landscape design to gather input from residents and locals. However, its application in energy plant planning is relatively new in Europe. In Italy, a laboratory of this kind is unique in its ambition and expected outcomes.
The event, which engaged participants throughout the entire day on Saturday, included a first phase of sharing and reconnaissance of landscape, energy, agricultural, ecological, recreational, and visual themes and values, and a second phase of co-design starting from the specific needs of the agrivoltaic system imagined for the specific local context.
According to Paolo Picchi, researcher and contract professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Florence, the first goal of the laboratory is to “seek shared languages from the community useful for involving local actors in the project with a view to its acceptance. A second result,” Picchi continues, “is to provide the decision-maker with evaluation tools legitimized by those who inhabit the territories, as community involvement should be a discriminating factor between a positive and a negative evaluation when it comes to projects that transform the landscape.”
Stefano Pieroni, Business Development Director for Starlight in Italy, comments:
“We are excited to have collaborated with the Department of Architecture of the University of Florence for this community laboratory on agrivoltaics in Torviscosa. This event represents an important step towards integrating renewable energies into our agricultural landscape, while promoting sustainability and local community involvement. We firmly believe that dialogue and co-design with the community are fundamental for the success of the energy transition, which is not only a transition towards less impactful energy sources but also and above all an emotional transition towards a different perception of our landscape.”
Enrico Forcucci, International Business Development Director and Agrivoltaics Expert for Starlight, believes:
“Listening, breathing, and living the territory is a substantial part of the design, especially in the case of agrivoltaics. No area project can be considered mature if it is based exclusively on territorial planning and does not understand the essence of a landscape. This is the method that Starlight promotes and is perfecting through initiatives like the one in Torviscosa.”