Agrivoltaics

An interesting concept in renewables, agrivoltaics provides for double use of agricultural land. Crops and solar generation exist in the same space. Coming from a family that was involved in dairy farming for a number of years as well as working with wineries in my previous experience in filtration, this could provide for more onsite farm generation as well as additional carbon offset. It can also help to alleviate concerns about taking valuable crop land for solar generation.

From some of the research I've done, it looks like this technique can also benefit crops located beneath the array, a win-win for energy generation and farming. While I'm not sure if this method is viable for utility scale generation, I think it can be viable solution for localized agriculture (think energy to support a vineyards well pumps or a dairy's electrical needs as well future EV farm equipment) or community solar installations.

Attached are two articles I've shared in the past on my LinkenIn page around Agrivoltaics. This first is a link from YahooNews to a Reuter's article on a French winemaker using this technique for energy generation and to protect his crops: https://www.yahoo.com/news/solar-panels-help-winemaker-fight-142621903.html

The second is a more recent article from NREL on InSPIRE, Innovative Solar Practices Integrated with Rural Economies and Ecosystems, an agrivoltaics research project. This is a deeper dive into agrivoltaics.

https://www.nrel.gov/news/program/2022/growing-plants-power-and-partnerships.html

To anyone interested, I also have a couple of white papers around increased crop yields related to agrivoltaics I would be happy to share or discuss.