In a field experiment in Fuyang District, Hangzhou, China, researchers tested whether solar panels and tea cultivation could share the same land, installing photovoltaic panels above tea bushes to generate electricity while the tea grew underneath. The result of this experiment was quite surprising. The tea bushes that grew under photovoltaic panels yielded 15.3% more fresh leaves in 2023 compared to the control plot, according to field measurements reported by Zheng and colleagues in the journal Agriculture.
This does not mean less light directly improved photosynthesis; rather, the reduced midday stress on the plants allowed them to convert available light more effectively than they could under full, unshaded sun. All these findings have been described in the paper Effects of Photovoltaic-Integrated Tea Plantation on Tea Field Productivity and Tea Leaf Quality, published in the journal Agriculture (MDPI) in 2026.
