Agrivoltaics

Israel’s scarce land resources and lack of interconnections to neighboring countries have driven the rise of rooftop solar. Now a number of recent policy changes, mainly due to electricity reforms, are set to reinforce the decentralization trend, reports Ilias Tsagas.

Chinese scientists assessed water evaporation on plots of land covered by two different kinds of agrivoltaic arrays and managed to significantly reduce evaporation in both cases. They looked at the relationship between cumulative surface evaporation and evaporation time.

Moroccan researchers have proposed the use of luminescent solar concentrators for power generation in greenhouses and agrivoltaic projects. They say they are capable of producing electricity in low-light illumination and converting ultraviolet light to visible light that could be used for crops.

A Saudi Arabian startup has developed a modular solar panel for agrivoltaic applications. It is specifically designed for locations with high solar radiation levels and protects plants and crops from excess sunlight.

Luxor Solar has developed a south-oriented system for high snow loads in Japan. It features its own heterojunction solar modules, along with mounting systems from Germany’s Next2Sun and inverters from Japan’s Omron.

Germany’s BayWa r.e. and Denmark’s Velux have announced the first agrivoltaic corporate power purchase agreement (PPA) in Europe. BayWa will build two solar parks in Spain to power Velux’s operations, with capacities of 60 MWp and 56 MWp. One of them will partly be an agricultural PV project.

Italy’s Rem Tec has developed a rotating mounting structure for agrivoltaics. It is reportedly ideal for flat surfaces with a maximum slope of 3%, and is designed to produce a dynamic, controlled shadow on the ground.

Rute Foundation Systems says its Rute Suntracker system – designed for utility-scale, high-clearance solar – could potentially reduce steel use by 30%.

BayWa r.e. has started optimizing its sheep count while experimenting with shepherd partnership business models.

A US research team claims to have demonstrated that increasing the spacing of solar panels between rows improves PV system efficiency and economics by allowing airflow to cool down the modules. The method could improve a project’s LCOE by as much as 2.15% in certain climates.