Techno-Economic Viability of Agro-Photovoltaic Irrigated Arable Lands in the EU-Med Region: A Case-Study in Southwestern Spain

Abstract

Solar photovoltaic (PV) energy is positioned to play a major role in the electricity generation mix of Mediterranean countries. Nonetheless, substantial increase in ground-mounted PV installed capacity could lead to competition with the agricultural use of land. A way to avert the peril is the electricity-food dual use of land or agro-photovoltaics (APV). Here, the profitability of a hypothetical APV system deployed on irrigated arable lands of southwestern Spain is analyzed. The basic generator design, comprised of fixed-tilt opaque monofacial PV modules on a 5 m ground-clearance substructure, featured 555.5 kWp/ha. Two APV shed orientations, due south and due southwest, were compared. Two 4-year annual-crop rotations, cultivated beneath the heightened PV modules and with each rotation spanning 24 ha, were studied. One crop rotation was headed by early potato, while the other was headed by processing tomato. All 9 crops involved fulfilled the two-fold condition of being usually cultivated in the area and compatible with APV shed intermitent shading. Crop revenues under the partial shading of PV modules were derived from official average yields in the area, through the use of two alternative sets of coefficients generated for low and high crop-yield shade-induced penalty. Likewise, two irrigation water sources, surface and underground, were compared. Crop total production costs, PV system investment and operating costs and revenues from the sale of electricity, were calculated. The internal rates of return (IRRs) obtained ranged from a minimum of 3.8% for the combination of southwest orientation, early-potato rotation, groundwater and high shade-induced crop-yield penalty, to a maximum of 5.6% for the combination of south orientation, processing-tomato rotation, surface water and low shade-induced crop-yield penalty.

Economic Feasibility of Agrivoltaic Systems in Food-Energy Nexus Context: Modelling and a Case Study in Niger

“…When it comes to the height of APV mounting structures, different heights are used depending upon the need for machinery used for farming underneath the PV modules. Varying examples of height for specific real or hypothetical projects are reported in the literature, e.g., 3 m in Japan [22] or 5 m in Spain [23].…”

“…The authors suggested the relevant stakeholders address these barriers for the successful and widespread implementation of APV systems. Moreda et al [23] analyzed the profitability of a hypothetical APV system deployed on irrigated arable lands of southwestern Spain. The authors used the internal rate of return (IRR) as an economic indicator to check the profitability for different scenarios of crop types and solar modules orientation (south vs. southeast).…”

Agrivoltaics in Ontario Canada: Promise and Policy

“…Making optimal decisions becomes even more complicated with agrivoltaics, as only a handful of studies have looked at crop rotation and agrivoltaics. Moreda et al [134] have studied (theoretically) rotating 9 types of crops in the southwest of Spain, Weselek et al [91] have investigated a 4-year rotation cycle, and Trommsdorff et al [48] looked at a crop rotation scheme including potato, celeriac, clover grass, and winter wheat. Thus, the agrivoltaic experimentation necessary to provide the data to make a large-scale transition to agrivoltaics needs to be run over multiple years with varying crops.…”

Simulation Modeling of a Photovoltaic-Green Roof System for Energy Cost Reduction of a Building: Texas Case Study

“…In addition, the electricity is supplied by photovoltaic (PV) solar panels to run an irrigation system. In fact, this approach has been adopted in the agro-photovoltaic (APV) system, which utilizes solar energy for crop production [42]. The role of sensors is to collect real-time temperature and electricity consumption data of a building.…”