Lantern Grants

Improved system design for innovative PV applications (EUPI-PV Partnership)

Funder
European Commission · Horizon Europe
Award amount
Up to €7,500,000
Deadline
December 1, 2026
Eligible countries
European Union, United Kingdom, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, Israel, Global

Summary

Open EU call topic HORIZON-CL5-2026-11-D3-14 · HORIZON Innovation Actions. Part of call HORIZON-CL5-2026-11: ENERGY. Next deadline 2026-12-01. Topic page: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/HORIZON-CL5-2026-11-D3-14

Expected Outcome: Agrivoltaics or the co-location of agricultural activity and PV electricity production is a novel form of PV deployment which could provide farmers with diversified revenue sources and ecological benefits, while reducing land use competition, siting restrictions or adverse impacts on biodiversity and agricultural production. Optimizing system designs and business practices will help to enable simultaneous land use creating synergy for both agriculture and electricity production; this can benefit farmers, lower PV costs and enable the European Union to reach the goals of the EU solar energy strategy. Similarly, offshore/nearshore PV systems represent a tremendous deployment potential in Europe and globally, due to their advantages in conserving land resources and optimizing light utilization. However, prevailing technical challenges limit deployment in most sea conditions usually found in Europe. Project results are therefore expected to contribute to some of the following expected outcomes, depending on the proposed system (agriPV or offshore/nearshore PV): - Harvesting of crops and photovoltaic electricity, providing sustainable solutions for energy production/use/efficiency, soil and biodiversity protection and water conservation. - Reinforce the European PV value chain, introduce new business models and open new markets for novel, bankable agri or offshore/nearshore PV systems. - Minimise the impact of PV on landscape/sea and environment exploiting its modularity and synergies of use. Promote offshore wind and PV co-location and system integration. - Significant improvement of designs that reduce both CAPEX and OPEX, maximize energy output and thus reduce LCoE. -…

Summary as listed by the funder. Always read the full announcement for eligibility, limits and how to apply.

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What European Union reviewers look for

  • Most Horizon Europe calls score three criteria (the ERC uses excellence alone). Excellence: clarity and ambition of the objectives, and the soundness of the methodology.
  • Impact: credible pathways to the expected outcomes, and measures to communicate and exploit results.
  • Quality and efficiency of implementation: the work plan, resources and the consortium's capacity.

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