Tag Archive for: agrivoltaics

The thin-film solar modules are much more adaptable to agricultural situations than regular panels due to their flexible, lightweight design.

Thin-film solar is the future of agrivoltaics

As solar power has been developed and popularized across the globe over the last several decades, the industry has given way to more recent innovation that allows for higher efficiency in irregular places: thin-film solar cells. These lightweight, flexible cells are capable of attachment to surfaces of nearly any shape or design, thanks to their flexibility, while requiring minimal structural supports, due to their light weight. With this technology, solar power is able to be harnessed in a variety of applications and places where previously thought impossible, due to the rigid structure and heavy nature of traditional solar panels.

And now, thin-film solar modules are ready to take on their next challenge: agrivoltaics.

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Source: PV Magazine

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Agrivoltaics could help solar companies win over opponents who want to see the land’s former use maintained.

Sheep graze on Texas solar farms as renewable energy companies embrace agriculture

Landon Terry steered the utility vehicle down the solar farm’s dirt road. The glittering panels were tilted almost vertically, blocking his view of the horizon. But the cowboy-turned-farmer knew he was close to his target when he saw fresh poop on the road.

“I have to holler,” Terry, 44, said as he parked the vehicle and hopped out.

“Woo—ooh!” Terry shouted.

His voice rang through the sunny morning. Terry waited. Along with his hard hat and protective sunglasses, he wore a button-down shirt, jeans and a silver belt buckle decorated with his cattle brand.

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Source: The Texas Tribune

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Putting the ‘farm’ in solar farm

Scientists with Texas A&M AgriLife seek to make solar energy production and agricultural production more compatible for producers on the landscape.

Researchers are actively contributing to the growing body of research focused on agrivoltaics—an innovative technology with the potential to enhance the efficiency and resiliency of sustainable food and agricultural systems while feeding the state’s growing demand for energy.

While Texas leads the nation in energy production, thanks to its diverse reserves of fossil fuels and renewable energy resources, the state’s rapidly expanding population places an ever-growing demand on the electrical power grid. This year, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas reported an unofficial record demand of 85,435 megawatts during the summer heatwave.

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Source: Agri Life Today

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KCCD's CREL announced plans this week for an agrivoltaic demonstration at Bakersfield College's Delano campus.

CREL plans agrivoltaics project at BC’s Delano campus

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Kern Community College District’s California Renewable Energy Laboratory announced plans this week for an agrivoltaic demonstration project bringing together solar panels and crops on the same land at Bakersfield College’s Delano campus.

Photovoltaic panels 7 1/2 feet high, spaced 18 feet apart, will provide power for a greenhouse cooling system, farming equipment or on-site battery storage as part of a hands-on learning installation expected to kick off later this fall.

Funded by part of the $50 million granted to KCCD last year by the state Legislature, the project is intended to promote local innovation in renewable energy while also giving students, industry and the surrounding community an opportunity to explore a field that has gained interest in recent years.

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Source: The Bakersfield Californian

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Agrivoltaics are still rare in CA, but experts say the shade they provide could be a game-changer in a state where many farms are struggling to plan for a future with limited groundwater.

As California gets drier, solar panels could help farms save water

Satellite imagery of Topaz Solar Farm, a massive solar installation inland from San Luis Obispo in Central California, depicts an oasis of blue panels surrounded by sun-scorched earth. The images do not capture, however, the thousands of sheep hard at work under the panels, eating the non-native grasses and reducing the threat of wildfire.

The operation benefits everyone involved: Sheep farmer Frankie Iturriria gets paid for his time, the collaborating rangeland researchers are breaking ground, and the landowner BHE Renewables can maintain the property with sheep, which have less impact and are more cost-effective than mowers or other livestock. But the farm is one of relatively few examples of agrivoltaics—or combined agriculture and photovoltaic array systems—on private land in California, where the technology has been surprisingly slow to gain visibility and traction.

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Source: Civil Eats

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Combining both agriculture and solar power generation can also help optimize the productivity and efficiency of land use.

How solar energy can help boost biodiversity and farming

The farming industry has always been associated with the good stewardship of natural resources, but it is branching out into new areas of sustainability, including renewable energy.

Using cleaner and greener forms has many obvious benefits, including reducing carbon emissions and other types of pollution, but in the case of farming it can also have additional benefits.

In particular, combining both agriculture and solar power generation — often called agrivoltaics — can also help optimize the productivity and efficiency of land use.

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Source: Forbes

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The goal is 500MW community solar projects over 5 years in line with American Farmland Trust’s mission of preserving farmland across the US.

Community solar initiative ‘resonating’ with agricultural communities by optimising farmland usage

An initiative to help optimise the use of farmland by integrating community solar projects where suitable is helping to steer hostile local stakeholders towards supporting renewables, one of the programme leaders has told PV Tech Premium.

In spring this year, energy services provider Aggreko announced its partnership with US-focused Farmers Powering Communities on its community solar initiative. This was launched last year by social impact solar developer Edelen Renewables. farmland preservation organisation American Farmland Trust and community solar subscriber Arcadia.

The headline number is the goal of 500MW of community solar projects over five years in line with American Farmland Trust’s mission of preserving farmland across the US, for which it has created principles for sustainable solar development known as “smart solar”.

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Source: PV Tech

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Agrivoltaics is experiencing increased adoption thanks in part to increased awareness about the associated benefits coming during a time of accelerated farm transitions.

Agrivoltaics hit ‘watershed moment’ as farmland transitions increase

“State governments, solar developers, farmers, and landowners are recognizing, and more importantly seeing first-hand, the multiple potential benefits that are possible with agrivoltaic projects,” Macknick said. “In some areas this is driven by land constraints, in other areas this is driven more by local perceptions of solar development, and in other regions farm economics are a major contributing factor.”

Legislative efforts on the federal level, as well as in states like Massachusetts and Colorado, “could spark further and more rapid change,” he said.

In May, Colorado enacted a law authorizing the state’s Agricultural Drought and Climate Resilience Office to award grants for new or ongoing research on the use of agrivoltaics. Previous bills to fund agrivoltaics in the state were “primarily sponsored” by Democrats, the Colorado Sun reported in January, but this bill won key support from Republican Sen. Cleave Simpson, who said he became interested in the practice as a result of economic problems he experienced while running his family’s 800-acre alfalfa farm.

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Source: Utility Dive

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Agrivoltaics has other benefits besides dual land use and food security; it could also reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make more efficient use of water.

Could growing crops under solar panels provide food and energy at the same time?

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Imagine growing greens in your back yard under a solar panel, and then juicing them in a blender powered by the same energy. A new University of Alberta project is working to make that a reality.

By growing spinach under different solar panels, two U of A researchers are measuring how the process affects both plant growth and the electrical output of the panels.

Known as agrivoltaics, the fairly new sustainable practice integrates solar panels with crops, making simultaneous use of land for both food and energy production.

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Source: University of Alberta

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With solar farms, the US agriculture industry once again demonstrates its ability to embrace new technologies and practices.

Army of butterflies to win solar farm wars, despite opposition

The rising tide of opposition to large-scale solar farms has been impacting the US solar industry, but over the long run, PV stakeholders have the butterflies on their side. Solar developers are eager to pitch their projects as pollinator habitats that replace cultivated crops and neglected land with native plants, benefiting the property owner and nearby farms. The pollinator angle helps to undercut complaints that solar arrays are an inappropriate use of farmland, and it supports the case for farmers to adopt new technologies that benefit their industry.

Minnesota has become the epicenter of the solar-plus-pollinator trend, with local electric cooperative Connexus Energy leading the way. That’s no accident. A 2016 state law set up Minnesota’s Habitat Friendly Solar program, which incentivizes property owners and solar developers to claim benefits for gamebirds as well as songbirds and pollinating insects.

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Source: Clean Technica

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