High-tech glasshouse growers are facing major challenges. The recent energy crisis has not only driven energy prices sharply higher but also made them extremely volatile. At the same time, pressure from customers, distributors and governments is forcing the sector to drastically reduce its carbon emissions. Despite these challenges, high-tech glass greenhouses remain essential for the future of agriculture, offering benefits such as improved protection from climate change and reduced water consumption. However, with up to 90% of their energy coming from fossil fuels, no solution has yet existed to reduce their dependence on energy prices and enable more sustainable production.

In this context, Voltiris is developing the first solar modules compatible with greenhouse agriculture and its crops. Through spectral-filtering technology, Voltiris transmits to the plants the wavelengths essential for photosynthesis, while the “unused” spectral components are filtered out and directed towards solar panels. This enables the production of renewable energy without negatively impacting crop yields, making growers more independent, sustainable and profitable. In addition, spectral filtering removes near-infrared light by converting it into solar energy, significantly reducing leaf temperature and contributing to a more favourable growing climate — all without reducing the usable light for plants.

Today, Voltiris has around ten commercial demonstrators across Europe (France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium) and has just completed its first industrial-scale demonstration (1,800 modules over 1 hectare) in a tomato greenhouse, proving the benefits of the solution at scale.

Voltiris enables growers operating more than 60,000 hectares of greenhouses — representing a €50 billion opportunity — to harness their roof surfaces to generate the clean, competitive and independent energy they need to succeed in their transition towards carbon-free electrification.