Agrivoltaics

rdf:langString Agrivoltaics

rdf:langString Agrivoltaics, agrophotovoltaics, agrisolar, or dual-use solar is the simultaneous use of areas of land for both solar photovoltaic power generation and agriculture. The coexistence of solar panels and crops implies a sharing of light between these two types of production, so the design of agrivoltaic facilities may require trading off such objectives as optimizing crop yield, crop quality, and energy production. However, in some cases crop yield increases due to the shade of the solar panels mitigating some of the stress on plants caused by high temperatures and UV damage. The technique was originally conceived by Adolf Goetzberger and Armin Zastrow in 1981, and the word agrivoltaic was coined in 2011. Today, agrivoltaic practices and the relevant law vary from one country to another. In Europe and Asia, where the concept was first pioneered, the term agrivoltaics is applied to dedicated dual-use technology, generally a system of mounts or cables to raise the solar array some five metres above the ground in order to allow the land to be accessed by farm machinery, or a system where solar paneling is installed on the roofs of greenhouses. The shade produced by such a system can reduce production of some crops, but such losses may be offset by the energy produced. Many experimental plots have been installed by various organisations around the world, but no such systems are known to be commercially viable outside China and Japan. The most important factor in the economic viability of agrivoltaics is the cost of installing the photovoltaic panels. It is calculated that in Germany, the subsidising of such projects' electricity generation by a bit more than 300% (feed-in tariffs (FITs)) can make agrivoltaic systems cost-effective for investors and thus may be part of the future mix of electricity generation. By 2019, some authors had begun using the term agrivoltaics more broadly, so as to include any agricultural activity among existing conventional solar arrays. As an example, sheep can be grazed among conventional solar panels without any modification. And some small projects in the US where beehives are installed at the edge of an existing conventional solar array have been called agrivoltaic systems. Likewise, some conceive agrivoltaics so broadly as to include the mere installation of solar panels on the roofs of barns or livestock sheds. Agricultural land is the most suitable for solar farms in terms of efficiency: the most profit/power can be generated by the solar industry by replacing farming land with fields of solar panels, as opposed to using barren land. This is primarily because photovoltaic systems in general decrease in efficiency at higher temperatures, and farmland has generally been created in areas with moisture -the cooling effects of vapour pressure is an important factor in increasing panel efficiency. It is thus expected that future growth of solar power generation will increase competition for farmland in the near future. Assuming a median power potential of 28 W/m2 as claimed by the California SolarCity power company, one report roughly estimates that covering less than 1% of the world's cropland with conventional solar arrays could generate all the world's present electricity demands.