New model estimates cultivable space at photovoltaic plants for combining agricultural and photovoltaic production

A staff on the College of Cordoba has developed a technique that defines the cultivable house between two-axis photovoltaic modules, with the intention of selling the conversion of present vegetation over to agrivoltaic manufacturing.

In Alcarras de Carla Simón, the Solé household glimpses the top of its conventional and not-very-profitable peach plantation as a result of arrival of photo voltaic panels. The battle between land use for sustainable energy vs. agricultural production is a sizzling matter that’s mirrored in cultural merchandise, and likewise in analysis.

Agrivoltaics, which is outlined because the shared use of land for agricultural and photovoltaic manufacturing, is offered as a technique to resolve this battle, and the TEP215-Physics for Renewable Energies analysis group on the College of Cordoba seeks to advertise these kind of vegetation by means of its analysis.

In considered one of their newest works, they’ve developed a mannequin that is ready to gauge the cultivable house between photo voltaic collectors at present photovoltaic vegetation. This kind of two-axis module strikes following the solar, like a form of sunflower, to maximise its efficiency. The analysis is published within the journal Utilized Vitality.

“In this work, we chose a type of photovoltaic installation that already existed to see whether we could redirect it and integrate crops for agricultural production into these existing facilities,” stated Rafael López, a Professor of Utilized Physics.

The methodology was developed based mostly on a theoretical simulation of photo voltaic astronomy and the spatial geometry of a photovoltaic plant with any such two-axis photo voltaic panel, and signifies the areas wherein crops could possibly be situated with out interfering with the motion of the photo voltaic panels or creating shadows; that’s, with out lowering photovoltaic manufacturing.

One other of the authors, a researcher on the Division of Electrical and Computerized Engineering Luis Manuel Fernández, identified that “the work also takes into account backtracking, which is a methodology developed by the group based on a process that prevents the panels from casting shadows on each other during their movement.”

Utilizing an precise photovoltaic set up situated in Cordoba, “El Molino,” with two-axis photo voltaic trackers and backtracking, the mannequin reveals the cultivable areas between panels. The simulation at that plant revealed that 74% of the land between the panels is cultivable by crops lower than 1.4 m excessive.

This mannequin could possibly be utilized, refining and adjusting parameters, to different present vegetation to grasp the chances of shifting over to agrivoltaic; that’s, combining photovoltaic and agricultural manufacturing, “both of which are productive and profitable,” acknowledged Rafael López.

“This work represents an advance in the possible conversion and agrivoltaic use of existing large photovoltaic plants, improving their sustainability, contributing to the necessary deployment of agrivoltaics, and advancing the fight against climate change,” the researchers stated.

This method entails a win-win relationship because the crops would additionally profit from the panels’ shading, particularly in excessive climates, sustaining soil moisture for longer.

The institution of laws on agrivoltaics and field trials with several types of crops are the following steps to be taken for any such land use to be carried out.