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Salmerón et al. Carbon Footprints 2026, 5, 17 Page 11 of 26

Table 2. Agrivoltaic System (AVS) deployment and regional electricity generation potential in Andalusian olive groves for the five
modeled scenarios. Values indicate the projected AVS area (ha) and its proportion of the total olive cultivation surface (%). Electricity
generation estimates (GWh year ) include solar photovoltaic output alongside energy derived from pyrolysis co-products or olive
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biomass combustion, depending on the scenario. Scenarios are defined by biochar feedstock and AVS deployment levels: S1 (EOP, no
AVS), S2 (EOP, 50% AVS), S3 (EOP-OP, 50% AVS), S4 (AVS-only, 100% AVS), and S5 (EOP-OP, 100% AVS)
Baseline S1 S2 S3 S4 S5
Agrivoltaic systems (AVS)
Area with AVS (ha) - - 38,093 38,093 76,186 76,186
% of total olive hectares - - 2 % 2 % 5 % 5 %
Electricity generation (GWh year )
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Electricity from pyrolysis co-products - 896 896 1,201 - 1,201
Solar power from AVS - 0 25,849 25,849 51,698 51,698
Biomass power plants 1,133 - - - 1 133 -
Total energy production 1,133 896 26,745 27,050 52,831 52,899

The transformative impact of AVS becomes evident when contextualizing it within the 2024 regional energy
profile. Figure 4B compares the renewable electricity generation with the regional demand, represented by
the red line at 41.16 TWh year . The baseline represents current renewable energy production in Andalusia
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(22.29 TWh year ), primarily derived from photovoltaics (51%) and wind (30%) [Supplementary Table 15].
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The integration of AVS in our investigated scenarios significantly boosts the renewable energy share.
Scenarios S2 and S3 can increase renewable generation by approximately 115%, while S4 and S5 with a higher
AVS deployment drive an increase of over 230%, pushing the total renewable supply significantly beyond the
regional demand threshold. In contrast, scenario S1 shows a slight dip (-1%) due to the diversion of biomass.
This excess capacity generated in scenarios S2 to S5 has the potential to transform the region into a net clean
energy exporter, supporting national decarbonization goals [49,77] .

Climate change impacts
Figure 5 compares the net greenhouse gas emissions across all scenarios, illustrating the differences between
the reference system and the integrated biochar and AVS interventions. Panel A shows the results under the
2024 electricity mix, while panel B shows the sensitivity analysis using the projected 2030 mix. Absolute
values are provided in Supplementary Table 16.

The reference system emits approximately 2.73 Mt CO -eq annually, a value in line with previous studies .
[45]
2
Across all scenarios, fertilizer application was the largest emissions source (1.51 Mt CO -eq·year , 55% of the
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2
total), driven primarily by the energy-intensive manufacturing of nitrogenous compounds. This is followed
by herbicides (0.73 Mt CO -eq·year , 27% of the total), with impact stemming from the production of
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2
glyphosate. These high impacts reflect the intensive management model characteristic of the region, marked
by the reliance on fertilizers to sustain yields and herbicides to maintain bare soil to reduce water
competition in olive groves [71,78] .
In general, all the scenarios investigated show net emissions that are lower than the baseline, although S1
uncertainty ranges are overlapping. There is a clear progression in climate performance across scenarios.
Scenario S1, which is based on biochar from EOP, remains a net emitter (+1.97 Mt CO -eq·year ), as
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2
biochar-carbon storage in the soil alone does not fully offset emissions from agricultural activities.
Introducing AVS is a clear leverage to achieve an almost climate neutral system. In the low-deployment
scenarios, S2 (EOP biochar) reduces net emissions to 0.16 Mt CO -eq·year . Here, the additional positive
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2
burden comes from the AVS infrastructure (0.74 Mt CO -eq·year ), while the mitigation is driven 76% by
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electricity benefits and 24% by biochar sequestration. The addition of olive pruning (OP) in scenario S3 leads