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Raising a bumper crop of electrons?
Until now, acreage was designated for either photovoltaics or photosynthesis, that is, to generate electricity or grow crops. An agrophotovoltaics (APV) pilot project near Lake Constance, however, has now demonstrated that both uses are compatible. Dual use of land is resource efficient, reduces competition for land and additionally opens up a new source of income for farmers. For one year, the largest APV system in Germany is being tested on the Demeter farm cooperative Heggelbach. In the demonstration project led by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, solar modules for electricity production are installed directly above crops covering an area of one third hectare. Now the first solar harvest of power and produce has been collected on both levels.
"The project results from the first year are a complete success: The agrophotovoltaic system proved suitable for the practice and costs as much as a small solar roof system. The crop production is sufficiently high and can be profitably sold on the market," explains Stephan Schindele, project manager of agrophotovoltaics at Fraunhofer ISE.
Why not cover parking lots with solar panels instead? Parked cars do not need to perform photosynthesis.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 29 2017, @02:47PM (3 children)
Look at the photo in TFA. Solar panels only cover a small fraction of the installation area. It's a mistake to start with 100 % assumed loss. You could shrink the farm area by 20 %, put solar cells next to the field, and get similar results.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 29 2017, @03:53PM (1 child)
But then, except as a hedge against crop failure, this only makes any sense if the net value of the solar energy is worth more than the net value of 20% of your crop, right?
(Score: 4, Funny) by DannyB on Wednesday November 29 2017, @07:10PM
Energy is clearly worth more. Would you rather give up your cell phone or eating? Case closed.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by tfried on Wednesday November 29 2017, @08:21PM
A very valid objection (and I've modded you up), but do keep in mind that a "traditional" PV farm will not cover 100% of the ground area, either. (Typical values guestimated at between 66% and 50% from glancing at the first page of results of an image search). So 18% "loss" in crop yield would still look like a net positive compared to what you'd get for separate PV and agriculture.
But yes, the comparison of interest is with your scenario of separate fields, and we aren't shown any numbers on that...