The conflict between using land for sustainable energy production and agricultural production is very difficult to resolve.
Agrivoltaics, defined as the shared use of land for agriculture and photovoltaic production, is presented as a strategy to mitigate this conflict and TEP215 – the Physics Research Group for Renewable Energies at the University of Córdoba (UCO) in Spain is promoting this type of facility through its research.
In one of their recent works, they developed a model that allows them to know the cultivable space between bi-axial solar collectors of existing photovoltaic plants. These types of two-axis modules follow the sun across the sky in a sort of sunflower pattern for maximum efficiency.
“In this work, we chose an existing photovoltaic installation to see if it could be redirected and integrate crops for agricultural production within these existing installations,” explains Rafael López, Professor of Applied Physics.
The method is developed from theoretical simulations of solar astronomy and the spatial geometry of a photovoltaic plant with two-axis collectors and leads to areas where potential crops are located without interfering with the movement of the sun. panels or shading them, i.e. without reducing photovoltaic production.
Another author, Luis Manuel Fernández, a researcher at the Department of Electrical and Automatic Engineering, said, “The work takes into account resilience, a mechanism developed by the team based on a resilience process that prevents panels from being damaged.” shadow each other during movement.”
Based on a real photovoltaic installation located in Córdoba, “El Molino”, with two-axis solar trackers and backtracking, the model reveals cultivable areas between collectors. As a result of the simulation at that plant, it was obtained that 74% of the land between the collectors was fertile for crops less than 1.4 m tall.
Rafael López recalled that using this model, refining and adjusting the parameters, to other existing plants to know the possibility of conversion to agrivoltaic, photovoltaic and agricultural production “is productive and profitable”.
Two of the authors of the study, Luis Manuel Fernández de Ahumada and Rafael López Luque. (Photo: UCO)
“This work reflects the potential retrofitting of existing large photovoltaic plants and advances in agrivoltaic use, improving their sustainability and making a necessary contribution to agrivoltaics and the fight against climate change,” the researchers recalled.
This system represents a win-win relationship for both parties, as the crops benefit from the shade the panels cast, especially in extreme climates, maintaining soil moisture for longer.
Establishment of agronomic legislation and field trials with different types of crops are steps that these types of farms should follow to establish themselves.
The first signed study, by Marta Varo Martínez from UCO, is titled “Method to estimate cultivable space in photovoltaic installations with dual-axis trackers for conversion to agrivoltaic plants.” It has also been published in the academic journal Applied Energy. (Source: UCO)
