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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: 2) by takyon on Wednesday November 29 2017, @04:01PM (2 children)
Maybe they should import the crops and collect sunlight instead.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday November 29 2017, @07:17PM (1 child)
I like the scalability. All farm land on the entire planet could collect sunlight and import crops from elsewhere. Getting rid of government crop subsidies would also do nice things for the budget.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 29 2017, @07:37PM
That's a laugh. Instead we'll get additional subsidies for cloudy days that farmers can claim even if they don't have solar panels even installed.