“Our mission is simple, but profound: to make agriculture more resilient and sustainable by harnessing the power of the sun”,
explains Adrian Renner, founder and CEO of Feld Energy. His startup focuses on preserving agricultural land primarily for food production while additionally generating electricity on it using solar modules. For farmers, this means up to €4,000 in additional income per hectare – without limiting the main agricultural use, according to the young company. Additionally, the technology reduces water consumption and makes agriculture more resilient to crop failures.
To achieve all this, Feld Energy offers two different solar systems: vertical and so-called tracked systems. In vertical systems, the solar panels are set up vertically running north to south, so the surfaces face east and west. Between these wall-like rows, farmers can continue to farm. At the same time, the crops would be protected by the modules from wind erosion and desiccation. Tracked systems, in turn, automatically align with the sun. They are designed to turn away from the wind in storms and provide protection against severe weather events and desiccation.
“Agri-PV as an engine of Germany’s energy transition”
The startup has now convinced investors of its concept and completed a pre-seed financing round of €1.7 million. The round is led by HV Capital and supported by Angel Invest and CoInvest (Marc Diekmann). Additionally, Karljo Seilern, Cord Amelung, Alex Mahr, Christian Hardenberg, Niklas Rickmann, Jan Rabe and Colin Hanna are participating.
Feld Energy CEO Renner continues:
“This financing will enable us to make our vision a reality, build a strong team, and move toward a future where electricity generation is in harmony with agriculture.”
David Kuczek, general partner at HV Capital, says:
“We are very excited to work with Dr. Adrian Renner again – a serial entrepreneur from our HV portfolio. He previously founded Global Savings Group, a leading company in consumer internet. With his experience building successful companies, we are convinced that Adrian can transform the agri-PV sector. We look forward to being part of this journey, in which agri-PV fully unfolds as an engine of Germany’s energy transition.”
Feld Energy plans to use the funds to expand its team and increase operational capacity. The goal is to make dual land use a standard practice.
