New resilience check for Germany

11/12/2025  In its latest resilience dossier, the Office of Technology Assessment at the German Bundestag (TAB) informs members of parliament about possible developments in ‘water management in agriculture’ in future scenarios up to 2050. It also covers the potential of new forms of use, such as agrivoltaics, peatland-photovoltaics and paludiculture on rewetted and previously drained agricultural land (link to the dossier in german).

The dossier considers agrivoltaics and peatland PV to be particularly promising. It states that partial shading by PV modules could reduce evaporation and thus conserve water resources. Furthermore: ‘For peatland-photovoltaics (peatland PV) ... an estimated technical potential of 440 to 880 GWp is assumed in Germany. This corresponds to approximately four to eight times the photovoltaic capacity currently installed in Germany and illustrates the enormous energy potential of this use.’ However, our knowledge of the effects of peatland PV is still limited, and further research is needed before large-scale implementation can be recommended. Projects such as MoorPV and MoorPower are currently conducting research about it.

The dossier assesses paludiculture as follows: ‘Agriculture on rewetted peatland areas with peat conservation, known as paludiculture, therefore still occupies a niche position ... However, this could change by 2050 due to the great potential for climate protection.’ Prof. Dr. Gerald Jurasinski, Carl Pump and Dr. Wendelin Wichtmann contributed their expertise to the dossier.

About the resilience dossiers:
The resilience check and the resulting dossier are a consulting service for the German Bundestag and serve as background information for specialist committees, as well as for social actors and the public. It analyses the potential of scientific and technological developments and discusses their possible impact on society. It discusses on an infrastructure-related topic each year. The 2026 edition of the Resilience Check will concentrate on ‘Cybersecurity in Research’.