PREMIUM Project 2026-2027: Gemeente Gulpen-Wittem

The Project:

Can Agri-PV secure the future of farming in Gulpen-Wittem? 

Do you want your work to have a real impact on a living landscape and on the people who sustain it? Then you should consider doing our project!
 
The Municipality of Gulpen-Wittem is a small, rural community in the South Limburg Heuvelland. With around 13,900 inhabitants across 73 km² of green hills, stream valleys, orchards, hedgerows, and arable farmland. Much of it is within a five-star landscape, including a Natura 2000 area. Our economy and identity are tied to farming and countryside tourism.

But that landscape is under pressure. Facing emission restrictions, soil-health requirements, and mounting uncertainty, more and more of our farmers are questioning whether they can continue at all. We see that the amount of farmers in Gulpen-Wittem is strongly declining. We see farmers as a key factor in helping us with our energy- and warmth transition. If most farmer in Gulpen-Wittem quit farming, our transition towards sustainable-produced energy and circular production will be more difficult. 
We are working with the farmers on new business opportunities for sustainable production, and one possibility that we have not yet researched is agri-pv. Solar panels installed above orchards and fields could generate clean energy, protect and nourish crops, and give farmers a vital extra income stream.

We would like PREMIUM students to conduct a feasibility study on whether agri-PV is a realistic and viable model for Gulpen-Wittem. Does it work technically, agronomically, financially, legally, and socially according to research? What could a vision with agri-pv look like in our landscape and in cooperation with our farmers? Technical-, economic-, environmental/spatial- and stakeholder feasibility will be the core topics on which this research will be conducted.

Your opportunity: engage directly with farmers and policymakers as an active co-creator, shape the municipality's energy transition, and deliver findings that will actually steer a follow-up investment and possibly a local energy community. You have the opportunity to present your findings to our sustainability team and alderman. The research will be used to convince the college to facilitate projects on agri-pv and in-depth research for possible business cases and organisational feasibility. The outcome is important for farmers since this could help them reduce their cost of production and help them sustain their companies. Future goals might include the sharing of energy with other inhabitants of Gulpen-Wittem in a decentralized local energy community.

We hope you can help us and help the farmers of Gulpen-Wittem.

 

The Client:

Gulpen-Wittem is a small rural municipality in South Limburg, the Netherlands, with about 13,900 inhabitants across some 73 km². It lies in the Heuvelland and borders both Belgium and Germany. Its defining characteristics are green hills, the stream valleys of the Geul en Gulp, extensive meadows and arable farmland, orchards, hedgerows, and wooded slopes. It is one of the most scenic landscapes in the country. Agriculture remains important, alongside countryside tourism: hikers and cyclists visit villages like Gulpen, Epen and Slenaken. The organisation is based at the town hall in Gulpen, focuses on resident-friendly services, supports a municipality whose economy is tied to farming, tourism, and small companies, which includes sustainability practices.