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| Mon, 8th Jun 2020 14:09:00 |
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Agrivoltaics works better with leafy greens, root crops |
U.S. researchers have created a new model to assess the overlap between solar potential and underlying land use. The areas with the largest potential are the western United States, southern Africa, and the Middle East. The researchers concluded that croplands, grasslands, and wetlands are the top three land classes for PV projects linked to agricultural activities, while barren terrain, traditionally prioritized for solar PV system installation, ranked fifth.
PV projects linked to agriculture have thus far shown the highest potential when combined with leafy greens such as lettuce and spinach, as well as with root crops such as potatoes, radishes, beets, and carrots. This is one of the conclusions of a recent research developed on agrivoltaics by U.S. scientist Chad Higgins from the Department of Biological and Ecological Engineering at Oregon State University.
"Pasture grasses and barley has performed very well for us here in Oregon," Higgins told pv magazine. "Many other vegetables have also shown promising such as tomatoes and peppers, but these are more climate dependent and need hotter conditions."
He believes that a combination such as strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and lingonberries could also provide for strong power and crop yields. "But we haven't checked this yet," Higgins said. "On the 'likely not a good idea' side are tall crops that may interfere more with the panels like corn or orchard crops."
According to the researcher, agrivoltaic projects can increase the sustainability of food, water, energy, and climate at the same time. "It is scalable, meaning that we could deploy at large levels and see massive positive impacts," Higgings explained, adding that agrivoltaics has a positive impact on all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. "The technology exists and is profitable in the right circumstances and has many societal ancillary benefits … It is truly a win-win-win."
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