Vertical farming: A trade-off between land area need for crops and for renewable energy production

Indoor vertical farming (VF) may play an important role in tackling future food insecurity as it can reduce the land use requirements for crop land and is not affected by environmental conditions. However, its energy-intensive operation and the associated environmental impacts can be a cause for concern. To alleviate these issues, it is desirable to operate VF with renewable energy. Our aim was to investigate the land use requirements for generating renewable energy for VF and whether the land area saved by growing crops in multiple layers is sufficient for energy production. The land area requirements for wind and solar (photovoltaic, PV) energy were assessed for lettuce, tomato, potato and wheat production in VF systems in Spain and Sweden. In addition to current-technology scenarios, future scenarios for technological advancement in VF systems and renewable energy generation were included. The results showed that with current technologies, the saved land area was sufficient to produce enough energy only in the case of using PV for lettuce production. However, with improved technologies, the saved land area was sufficient to produce electricity with PV for all crops except tomatoes in Sweden. In contrast, wind energy only satisfies lettuce production, even with future technologies. This study serves as a guideline for determining the feasibility of VF operated with renewable energy in relation to land area, electricity requirements and renewable electricity generation potential in various regions of Europe. •Vertical farming (VF) may play an important role in future food insecurity.•Energy production with PV and wind on farmland for VF operation was examined.•A high potential for PV was found with future technological advancement.•Large additional land areas may be necessary for wind energy–operated VF.