Lettuce Production under Mini-PV Modules Arranged in Patterned Designs

Carreño-Ortega, Ángel; Paço, Teresa A.; Díaz-Pérez, Manuel; Gómez-Galán, Marta

doi:10.3390/agronomy11122554

Cited by 10 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…With the development of agrivoltaic/agrophotovoltaics (APVs), a number of advantages of this solution have been recognised [23]. For example, the positive effect of reducing the intensity of heat stress in cows [24] or increasing the productivity of lettuce shaded by PV panels [25]. A similar effect was also observed for increased biodiversity at a PV site [26] or the effect of PV panel placement on increasing species diversity of soil microorganisms in grasslands [27].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Ecovoltaics - A Truly Ecological and Green Source of Renewable Goods

Nowak

Świsłowski

Świerszcz

et al. 2023

Ecological Chemistry and Engineering S

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The intensive exploitation of natural resources, expansion of human population and degradation of natural and semi-natural habitats, caused among others by agriculture, forestry and urbanisation, enforce special care for the natural resources, especially the disappearing types of vegetation that are refugees of biodiversity. One of the most threatened plant communities are grasslands (pastures and meadows), which has suffered the most in recent decades due to the intensification of agriculture and the transformation of land use. The purpose of this paper is to propose a hybrid approach to clean energy production on photovoltaic (PV) farms, taking into account the needs of grassland conservation and restoration. Nine sets of sciophilous species are proposed, including grasslands rich of pollinator benefits, grasslands with low pollen production to maintain high electrical efficiency of panels, and rich, standard meadows in wet (Molinion, Calthion, Alopecurion, Cnidion), fresh (Arrhenatherion) and dry (Cirsio-Brachypodion) types. The combination of clean energy and grassland conservation has been called ecovoltaics (EV) because it combines the production of renewable electricity with care for the diversity of valuable grassland ecosystems. The research will continue on an experimental ecovoltaic farm with innovative technical solutions to effectively maintain the desired meadow species composition. The purpose of this study was to analyse and select plant species that could be introduced into areas where PV cells are installed under climatic conditions in southern Poland. Using databases, environmental and ecological factors were taken into account. As a result of the study, a list of 206 species was selected that could be introduced to areas where they will coexist with PV panels, taking into account the effect of shading. The developed selection of these plant species provides a starting point for future work by botanists and engineers seeking to increase the biodiversity of sites where PV panels will be placed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Ecovoltaics - A Truly Ecological and Green Source of Renewable Goods

Nowak

Świsłowski

Świerszcz

et al. 2023

Ecological Chemistry and Engineering S

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“…

The world has been struggling with emergencies such as global warming, drought and energy and food insecurity which continue to put increased pressure on our natural resources (Carreño-Ortega et al, 2021;Marrou et al, 2013). Climate change impacts have made farming more difficult and unsustainable, and this coupled with the projected population increase up to 9.7 billion by 2050 will inevitably exacerbate global food shortages in the future (Maia et al, 2020;Trommsdorff et al, 2020).

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confidence: 99%

Economic feasibility of using agrivoltaics for tomato farming

Rabasoma,

Jenkins,

Ekanayake

2024

Food and Energy Security

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Agrivoltaics or agrophotovoltaics (APV), which simply describes farming under a canopy of PV panels, has been recently gaining a wider implementation to improve farming yields as well as generate electricity on the same piece of land. The presented study undertakes an economic analysis to justify the implementation of agrivoltaics in a tomato farm. Three research cases are investigated; Case 1 is the control scenario which is just ordinary tomato farming that is used as a baseline. And then there are Cases 2 and 3, which are low‐density and high‐density agrivoltaics, respectively. The farm is irrigated from a borehole using a diesel generator in Case 1 and solar pumps in the Agrivoltaics Cases 2 and 3. The study found that tomato harvest is reduced by a minimum of 16% in agrivoltaics setup. However, this reduced harvest is compensated by the PV output. The payback period has been calculated considering the capital costs of the PV system and other operational costs within the farm, and it is found that Case 2 and Case 3 have 3 years and 3.6 years payback periods, respectively. While on the other hand, ordinary tomato farming is unattractive with a lengthy payback period of 17.5 years. Net present value analysis is also used to determine the profitability of the three scenarios over a 10‐year period, and the agrivoltaics scenarios are calculated to be profitable while ordinary tomato farming is not profitable. Therefore, this study justifies economic investment in agrivoltaics for tomato farming in Botswana.

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