Global potential of fishery–photovoltaic integration for sustainable energy and climate mitigation

Fishery–photovoltaic integration combines solar photovoltaics with aquaculture ponds and tidal flats, offering a way to produce clean energy while maintaining aquatic food production. Yet its global potential remains poorly quantified. Here, we develop a five–kilometer spatial assessment to evaluate worldwide deployment potential across aquaculture ponds and tidal flats. After excluding areas constrained by environmental protection, biodiversity conservation, topography, and grid access, 43.6% of global pond and tidal–flat area remains suitable. Under a conservative 10% photovoltaic coverage scenario, this resource could support about 856 gigawatts of capacity, generate about 1,267 terawatt–hours of electricity per year, avoid about 580 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year, and provide about 750 million US dollars in additional annual aquaculture revenue. These findings provide a global quantitative basis for fishery–photovoltaic integration and indicate that it could contribute to energy security, carbon mitigation, and ecosystem resilience.