As the world accelerates towards renewable energy futures, land use conflicts between energy generation, agriculture, and water bodies are becoming increasingly acute. In many regions, particularly in Africa and parts of Asia, competition for arable land threatens both food security and energy access. Two innovative solar technologies offer promising pathways to resolve these tensions: agrivoltaics (co-locating crops and solar PV) and floating solar photovoltaics (deploying arrays on water bodies, including reservoirs, irrigation canals, and wastewater treatment facilities).

These dual-use approaches not only generate clean electricity but can also enhance agricultural resilience under extreme heat and drought, reduce water evaporation, and avoid land-use displacement. However, significant knowledge gaps remain regarding optimal system design, crop-specific performance, environmental impacts, economic viability, and technology transfer to low- and middle-income countries, particularly in Africa and South Asia.

This themed collection invites interdisciplinary research on agrivoltaics, floating solar, and innovative renewable energy integration strategies. We welcome technical, economic, environmental, and policy-oriented contributions, with particular encouragement for case studies from Africa, South Asia, and other under-researched geographies.

We invite research articles, reviews, perspectives, rapid communications and case studies addressing, but not limited to, the following topics:

• Agrivoltaic system design: crop selection, panel configuration, and microclimate management
• Floating solar photovoltaics: performance, degradation, and environmental impacts on water bodies
• Dual-use solar solutions for food-energy-water nexus challenges
• Renewable energy integration in African energy systems: Senegal, Namibia, and regional perspectives
• Solar PV on wastewater infrastructure: energy generation and water conservation synergies
• Energy economics and financial sustainability of innovative solar deployments
• Silicon solar cells, concentrated solar power, and emerging PV technologies
• Technology transfer, capacity building, and knowledge exchange for Global South energy transitions
• Climate resilience of solar-agriculture systems under extreme heat and drought
• Energy consumption analysis and energy system transitions in West and Southern Africa
• Policy frameworks for scaling agrivoltaics and floating solar in developing economies

Submission deadline: 31 March 2027

Lead Editors

Petja Dobreva, University of Namibia (UNAM), Namibia, Editor of Cambridge Prisms: Energy Transitions

Bertrand Tchanche, Université Alioune Diop de Bambey, Senegal, Editor of Cambridge Prisms: Energy Transitions

Anik Goswami, Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) Chennai, India, Senior Editor of Cambridge Prisms: Energy Transitions