Austria Agri-Photovoltaic Pilot Projects (2021–2025)

During 2021 to 2025, with the policy support of the Renewable Energy Expansion Act (EAG), Austria officially launched the Austria Agri-Photovoltaic Pilot Projects. This project is a core component of the local renewable energy transition strategy, as well as an important initiative to respond to the EU "Green Deal" and promote the coordinated development of agricultural sustainability and energy structure optimization. Different from traditional photovoltaic projects, this agri-photovoltaic pilot focuses on the dual drive of "agricultural production + photovoltaic power generation". High-support photovoltaic modules are installed in multiple core agricultural production areas in Austria (including grain planting areas, fruit and vegetable planting bases, etc.), with the support height generally reaching 3.5-5 meters. It not only does not affect the lighting, irrigation and mechanized operation of the crops below, but also efficiently utilizes the solar energy resources above the farmland, truly realizing the green development model of "agriculture-photovoltaics symbiosis and dual use of one land", taking into account both agricultural output and clean energy power generation benefits.

From the perspective of the overall Austrian photovoltaic market environment, the local market is dominated by small and medium-sized projects, with annual new installed capacity fluctuating between 1.6–2.6 GW. In 2023, driven by the increased EU subsidy policies, the new installed capacity reached a high of about 2.6 GW. In 2025, with the fine-tuning of subsidy policies, it fell back to about 1.63 GW, and the cumulative installed capacity remained stable at around 10 GW, showing an overall characteristics of "non-explosive, long-term and steady progress". It is worth noting that the Austrian photovoltaic market is dominated by rooftop photovoltaics (residential rooftops + industrial and commercial rooftops), with the core logic of "installing on rooftops if possible". The launch of this agri-photovoltaic pilot project is the first large-scale exploration of in-depth integration of ground photovoltaics and agriculture in the local area, which belongs to an emerging pilot field. Therefore, higher requirements are put forward for the environmental protection, stability and compliance of the project.

As a benchmark pilot in Austria's agri-photovoltaic field, this project covers multiple small and medium-sized agri-photovoltaic power stations with a total installed capacity of 800MW, involving land integration and photovoltaic system construction in multiple agricultural production areas. One of the core needs is to provide safe, durable and compliant wire products for the entire link of the photovoltaic system, including six categories: photovoltaic DC cables, DC combiner cables, DC main cables, AC output cables, control cables and grounding cables. Among them, photovoltaic DC cables, as the core carrier for component series connection and power transmission, directly determine the power generation efficiency and operational stability of the photovoltaic system, and are the core procurement products of this project. Dongguan GERITEL Electrical Co., Ltd. stood out among many suppliers by virtue of its full range of compliant products, professional customized solutions and rich experience in wire supply for photovoltaic projects, successfully becoming the wire export supplier for this project. It participated in the wire selection, supply, installation guidance and after-sales support of the project throughout the whole process, and successfully completed the full-cycle service of the project. The detailed case analysis is as follows.

I. Project Background and Core Customer Pain Points

This Austria Agri-Photovoltaic Pilot Project (2021–2025) covers multiple agricultural production areas in Austria. The project is dominated by small and medium-sized agri-photovoltaic power stations, with higher support heights than ordinary photovoltaic projects, scattered layout and long wiring distance. The core demand is to provide safe, durable and compliant wire products for the entire link of the photovoltaic system, including six categories: photovoltaic DC cables, DC combiner cables, DC main cables, AC output cables, control cables and grounding cables, among which photovoltaic DC cables are the core products.

In the early stage of project promotion, the customer faced six core pain points, which seriously affected the project progress and long-term stability, and were also the key considerations for selecting suppliers:

1. Complex Construction: The high height of agri-photovoltaic supports, long cable paths and scattered project layout, coupled with the insufficient flexibility of traditional cables and cumbersome on-site cutting, lead to low installation efficiency and a significant increase in construction costs;

2. Vulnerability to Agricultural Environment Damage: In farmland scenarios, cables are exposed to strong ultraviolet radiation for a long time, and are prone to rodent bites and agricultural machinery collisions. The sheath of traditional cables is easy to be damaged, resulting in high failure rate and high later maintenance costs;

3. Severe Long-Distance Loss: The project adopts a distributed inverter design, with long cable transmission distance. The unreasonable cross-sectional design of traditional cables leads to increased voltage loss and affects photovoltaic power generation efficiency;

4. Ununified Design: There are great differences in Austrian agri-photovoltaic projects, and there is no standardized cable selection scheme. Customers need to connect with different types of cable suppliers separately, resulting in complex selection, high procurement and management costs;

5. Prominent Cost Pressure: The income of agri-photovoltaic projects is limited, but the requirements for cable reliability are extremely high. The EPC party continues to press down prices, and customers need to control costs while ensuring that product quality is not compromised;

6. Strict Compliance Requirements: The project must strictly comply with EU EN 50618 standards, CPR certification and Austrian local standards, and suppliers need to provide complete compliance documents, with a high threshold.

When selecting suppliers, the customer compared many enterprises and finally chose us. The core reason is that we can not only provide a full range of cable products that meet EU standards, but also provide one-stop customized solutions for the special scenarios of agri-photovoltaic projects. In addition, we have rich experience in undertaking similar projects, fast delivery and perfect after-sales support. Especially, our photovoltaic wires hold authoritative TUV certification, which can completely solve the customer's compliance concerns.

II. Product Overview and Core Advantages

For this Austria Agri-Photovoltaic Pilot Project, we accurately matched six categories of cable products. All products comply with EU EN 50618, CPR certification and IEC national standard certification. Among them, the photovoltaic wires hold TUV Certificate No. B 126326 0001 Rev.00 to ensure the compliant acceptance of the project. The products adopt high-quality raw materials and advanced production technology, with reasonable structure and excellent performance, perfectly adapting to the special environment of agri-photovoltaic projects. The specific overview is as follows:

The core product is photovoltaic DC cable, which is a PV-specific DC cable (complying with EN 50618 / TÜV certification). The commonly used model is H1Z2Z2-K, and the typical specifications are 1×4 mm² (most commonly used for component series connection) and 1×6 mm² (for long strings or high-current branches). The cable adopts a double-layer structure design. Both the insulation layer and the sheath layer are made of irradiated cross-linked halogen-free low-smoke flame-retardant polyolefin material, and the conductor is made of class 5 stranded tinned copper. The color is mainly black (adapting to outdoor exposure scenarios), with a temperature resistance range of -40℃ ~ +90℃. It has extremely strong UV resistance and rodent-proof performance, specially designed for the farmland environment with strong exposure and more rodent damage. It is installed in the series connection between photovoltaic components and on the agri-photovoltaic supports, with flexible wiring and not easy to be damaged.

The other supporting products are adapted to the project needs on demand: DC combiner cables adopt PV1-F / H1Z2Z2-K (thickened version), with specifications of 1×6 mm² and 1×10 mm², adapting to the characteristics of large span and long combiner distance of agri-photovoltaic supports; DC main cables adopt XLPO insulated DC main cables, with specifications of 1×16 mm², 1×25 mm², and 1×35 mm² for a few large areas, adapting to the independent main needs of distributed inverters; AC output cables adopt 0.6/1kV low-voltage cables N2XY. For small inverter arrays, specifications of 4×16 mm², 4×25 mm², 4×35 mm² are selected; for medium-sized 20–50 MW projects, specifications of 3×50 mm², 3×70 mm² are selected, which are used for power transmission from inverters to booster stations; control cables adopt LiYY / LiYCY and shielded industrial control cables, with specifications of 2×0.75 mm², 4×0.75 mm², 8×1.0 mm², adapting to the complex control system of the project, and used for inverter communication, SCADA system, monitoring signals and meteorological station data transmission; grounding cables adopt bare copper or yellow-green grounding wires, with specifications of 16 mm², 25 mm², and 35 mm² for main grounding, ensuring the safe operation of supports, inverters and lightning protection systems.

Compared with similar products, our core advantages are reflected in four aspects: first, guaranteed compliance. The full range of products has passed EN 50618 and CPR certification, and the photovoltaic wires hold TUV certificate (No. B 126326 0001 Rev.00), which can provide complete compliance documents to ensure the smooth review and acceptance of the project, which is one of the core reasons why customers choose us; second, strong environmental adaptability. We optimize product performance for agricultural scenarios. The application of rodent-proof reinforced sheath, UV-enhanced weather-resistant materials and XLPO insulation technology greatly reduces the cable damage rate and prolongs the service life. Different from ordinary photovoltaic cables that can only adapt to conventional outdoor environments, our products can calmly cope with the special farmland scenarios with strong exposure, more rodent damage and large temperature difference; third, customized adaptation. We can optimize the cable cross-sectional design according to the project's zoning characteristics and transmission distance, prefabricate the length and provide standardized wiring schemes to solve the problems of long-distance loss and complex construction; fourth, high cost performance. Through the product positioning of "high reliability + long service life", we replace low-cost and frequently replaced inferior cables, and optimize the cross-sectional design to avoid excessive material use, helping customers reduce the whole life cycle cost and balance the cost pressure and product quality needs.

III. Customized Solutions and Project Execution

In response to the six core pain points of the customer, we set up a special project team to deeply connect with the project needs, combined with the characteristics of Austrian agri-photovoltaic projects, formulated a one-stop customized solution, and followed up the project execution throughout the whole process to ensure the accurate delivery and efficient installation of products.

1. Solving the Problem of Complex Construction: We selected high-flexibility H1Z2Z2-K photovoltaic DC cables, combined with prefabricated length design. According to the project's support layout and wiring path, the cable length was customized in advance to reduce on-site cutting procedures; at the same time, we provided standardized wiring design, clarified the wiring method and fixed points of various cables, and guided the construction team to install efficiently. Compared with traditional cables, the installation efficiency was improved by more than 30%, which greatly reduced the construction cost and construction period.

2. Solving the Problem of Agricultural Environment Damage: We optimized the cable sheath design, adopted rodent-proof reinforced sheath, added natural plant-extracted rodent repellent, which is non-toxic and harmless with long-term protection, completely solving the problem of rodent bites; the shell adopted UV-enhanced weather-resistant XLPO material, which was treated by special irradiation process, greatly improving the UV resistance of the cable, which can withstand strong farmland exposure for a long time, and at the same time enhancing the mechanical strength to resist agricultural machinery collisions, reducing the cable failure rate to less than 1%, and greatly reducing the later maintenance cost. XLPO material has excellent heat resistance, insulation and chemical resistance, with a long-term working temperature of up to 90℃ and a short-circuit heat resistance temperature of up to 250℃, which is far superior to the performance standards of ordinary cables, adapting to the complex environment of Austrian agri-photovoltaic projects.

3. Solving the Problem of Long-Distance Loss: Combined with the design characteristics of the project's distributed inverters, we selected DC combiner cables with specifications of 1×6 mm² and 1×10 mm², optimized the cable cross-sectional design to reduce resistance; at the same time, we provided a reasonable distributed combiner design scheme to shorten the cable transmission distance, effectively reducing voltage loss. According to actual tests, the voltage loss was reduced by more than 15%, significantly improving the photovoltaic power generation efficiency and helping customers increase project income.

4. Solving the Problem of Ununified Design: We launched a standardized cable combination package, integrating six categories of products including DC cables, AC cables and control cables. According to the project scale (small and medium-sized), we provided a one-stop selection scheme, so that customers do not need to connect with different suppliers separately, simplifying the selection, procurement and management processes, reducing procurement and management costs, and ensuring the compatibility of various cables to avoid system failures caused by improper selection.

5. Solving the Problem of Prominent Cost Pressure: Adhering to the product positioning of "high reliability + long service life", our cables have a service life of more than 40 years and do not need frequent replacement. Although the initial procurement cost is slightly higher than that of low-cost inferior cables, in the long run, it can save a lot of replacement costs and maintenance costs; at the same time, we optimize the cable cross-sectional design to avoid excessive material use, reducing product costs on the premise of ensuring performance, helping customers control costs without reducing product quality under the condition of EPC price pressure.

6. Solving the Problem of Strict Compliance Requirements: We provided a full range of EN 50618 + CPR certified products throughout the whole process, took the initiative to provide the TUV certificate of photovoltaic wires (No. B 126326 0001 Rev.00) and IEC national standard certification documents of other products, assisted customers in sorting out project compliance data, and arranged a professional team to connect with Austrian local review standards to ensure the smooth acceptance of the project and solve the customer's compliance concerns, which is also one of our core competitiveness different from other suppliers.

In terms of delivery and execution, relying on the mature supply chain system, we ensured fast delivery, delivered products accurately in batches according to the project construction progress, avoiding delaying the construction period; arranged a professional technical team to remotely guide customers in cable installation and commissioning, and timely solved the problems encountered in the installation process; established an after-sales tracking mechanism, regularly visited customers to understand the operation status of cables, provided timely maintenance support, and ensured the smooth progress of the project throughout the whole process.

IV. Project Achievements and Customer Feedback

We participated in this Austria Agri-Photovoltaic Pilot Project (2021–2025) throughout the whole process, successfully completed the supply, installation guidance and after-sales support of all cable products. The project passed the local review and acceptance in Austria smoothly, achieved the expected goal of "agriculture-photovoltaics symbiosis", and achieved the following achievements:

1. Stable Cable Operation: Since the project was put into use, the six categories of cables we provided have been operating stably, with a failure rate of less than 1%. There has been no photovoltaic system shutdown caused by cable damage or excessive voltage loss. They are adapted to the special farmland environment with strong exposure, more rodent damage and large temperature difference, ensuring the continuous and stable power generation of the photovoltaic system;

2. Improved Construction Efficiency: Through the application of prefabricated length, standardized wiring design and high-flexibility cables, the construction efficiency was improved by more than 30%, the project construction period was shortened, and the construction cost was reduced, which was highly recognized by the EPC party and the customer;

3. Smooth Compliance Acceptance: With the full range of compliant products and complete certification documents, the project successfully passed the EU EN 50618, CPR certification and Austrian local standard review, without any compliance-related problems;

4. Achieved Cost Control Target: By optimizing product design and providing long-life products, we helped customers reduce the whole life cycle cost, balanced the cost pressure and product quality needs, and improved the economic benefits of the project.

The customer highly recognized this cooperation. In summary, the core reasons for choosing us are: the product compliance is supported by authoritative certification, it is adapted to the special environment of agri-photovoltaic projects, the solution is accurate and efficient, which can completely solve the project pain points, and at the same time, the delivery is fast, the after-sales service is perfect, and the cost performance is prominent. The customer said that our cable products have excellent performance in stability and environmental adaptability, especially the rodent-proof and UV-resistant performance, which perfectly solves the problem of cable damage in farmland scenarios. The standardized combination package also simplifies the procurement and management processes. For the expansion of Austrian agri-photovoltaic projects in the future, we will continue to give priority to choosing us as the wire supplier.

V. Cooperation Value and Consultation Invitation

This cooperation with the Austria Agri-Photovoltaic Pilot Project (2021–2025) not only demonstrates our strength in the field of wire export, but also reflects our in-depth understanding of the compliance requirements of the EU market and our accurate grasp of the special needs of agri-photovoltaic projects. We have always taken "compliance, high quality and high adaptability" as the core, providing professional wire products and one-stop solutions for global photovoltaic projects. Especially in Austria and other EU countries, our products fully comply with EN 50618, CPR and other standards, the photovoltaic wires hold TUV certificate (No. B 126326 0001 Rev.00), and other wires have passed IEC national standard certification. We have rich experience in undertaking similar projects, with fast delivery and guaranteed quality, which can effectively solve the core pain points of customers in construction, environment, compliance, cost and other aspects.

If you are promoting agri-photovoltaic, photovoltaic power station and other projects in Austria and other EU countries, and are facing problems such as wire selection, compliance acceptance and cost control, please feel free to contact us. We will provide you with customized product solutions and professional technical support to help your project advance smoothly and land efficiently.

Contact Us:

Dongguan GERITEL Electrical Co., Ltd.

Tel/WhatsApp/WeChat: +86 135 1078 4550 / +86 136 6257 9592

Email: manager01@greaterwire.com