The present paper evaluates the soiling losses of a 3.25‐MW photovoltaic (PV) system installed in central Chile, 200 km north of Santiago, and analyzes the nonuniform soiling deposition between the various strings for a period of 3 years. A robust methodology is developed to extract, in the most systematic way, 142 reliable soiling profiles from the 256 PV power time series recorded on site. It is found that, if unmitigated, soiling would reduce the annual DC energy generation by 8%, with a factor of 2× between the losses of the most and least affected strings. Most of the losses are registered on the edges of the plant, closer to traffic and unpaved roads. The most soiling intense months are in summer, result of the infrequent rainfalls and of the high concentrations of suspended particles that characterize this season. The revenues and the costs of different manual cleaning frequencies are evaluated and compared to identify the optimal soiling mitigation strategy for this site. Three cleanings per year are found to return the highest profits for the economic conditions considered in this study. However, a sensitivity analysis shows how different cleaning costs and electricity prices would affect the soiling mitigation strategy. In addition, in light of the nonuniform soiling deposition distribution, the possibility of cleaning only selected strings rather than the full PV plant is discussed.

Agrivoltaic greenhouses in southern Spain offer a sustainable way to manage excessive irradiance levels by generating renewable energy. This study presents a shading experiment on tomato cultivation in a raspa-y-amagado greenhouse in Almeria, southern Spain, during the 2023–2024 growing season. Photovoltaic modules were mimicked by opaque plastic sheets that were arranged in a checkerboard pattern on the roof of the greenhouse. Two shading zones (30% and 50% roof cover ratio) were compared against an unshaded control zone. Microclimate, plant physiology, yield and quality were monitored during the study. The results show that shading influenced the microclimate, which directly impacted crop yield. The 30% and 50% shading zones resulted in 15% and 26% crop yield reductions, respectively. A preliminary, theoretical analysis of potential revenues of the photovoltaic yield showed that reductions in crop yield can be overcompensated by the energy generated by the PV system. For the summer crop cycle, a higher PV production and lower crop yield reductions can be expected. The economic advantage demonstrates the potential of agrivoltaic greenhouses in southern Spain.