Solar farms are sprouting up
everywhere, and large utility-scale solar projects can take up a lot of
space. This can present a problem in densely populated countries where
the loss of farmland in favor of solar panels means less food is grown.
Some utility-scale solar projects have been built
that take advantage of the surface of the ocean and lakes as an
alternative to using more land. However, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute For Solar Energy Systems
have conducted an experiment near Lake Constance — which borders
Germany, Lichtenstein, and Switzerland, that may provide another
solution.
An agrophotovoltaics (APV) pilot project conducted at Lake Constance has
proven that farming and the use of solar panels can be compatible. This
dual use of land is not only efficient but reduces the competition for
land while providing additional income for farmers.
The pilot project was being carried out on the Demeter farm cooperative
Heggelbach. The project used 720 bi-facial solar panels covering about a
third of a hectare. One hectare is equal to 2.5 acres. In the
experiment, the solar panels were mounted high enough to allow crops
planted below to receive almost as much sunlight as they would if the
panels were not there.
Raising the solar panels also allowed for farm machinery to be used.
After one year, the experiment showed the dual system increased the
land's productivity by 60 percent.
“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.
“APV has the potential to open up new space that is urgently needed for
the PV expansion in Germany, says professor Hans-Martin Henning, the
director of Fraunhofer ISE, according to Clean Technica.
“At the same time, APV can mitigate the conflicting interests between
agriculture and open space PV systems for viable land. Before market
readiness, however, other sectors and differently sized systems still
must be tested. Also, the technical integration must be further
advanced, for example, the implementation of storage.”
The first crops planted were winter wheat, potatoes, celeriac and clover
grass. The south-west orientation and the extra distance between the
five meter (16 feet) high rows of bifacial glass-glass PV modules
ensured that the crops were exposed to uniform solar radiation.
Co-existence of solar and farming is at risk
This pilot project comes at a good time because how farmers are
solarizing the land has become a point of contention in many parts if
the world. While some farms have embraced solar energy, installing solar
panels, pumps, coolers, heaters and more, others have stopped planting
crops altogether in favor of solar farms.
Added to the problem is that since 2010, the cost of installing solar on
homes and businesses has dropped over 50 percent. And realizing that
farms were both homes and businesses, the Solar Energy Industries
Association last year published a guide explaining how farmers could turn "unused or underused land into revenue-generation opportunities."
Karlee Weinmann, a researcher at the Institute For Local Self-Reliance
(ILSR), explains the situation on American farmers replacing crops with
solar arrays like this: "The prevailing reasons farmers decide to
replace crops with solar are because the farmers are getting older or
because it’s easier and more lucrative."
"They’re principally motivated by risk aversion, and less inclined to
want exposure to the volatility that might come with a more traditional
crop. Risk is a significant part of the calculus in their decisions, at
least in the cases I am aware of."
With farmers turning away from traditional farming in favor of a more lucrative income with managing solar farms,
we may be in for a crisis. Additionally, with twenty-four million acres
of agricultural land lost to development since 1982, some policymakers
aren’t too happy about solar’s agricultural growth.
"Solar makes financial sense for farmers," Weinmann concluded. "Farming
is not an easy business to be in, and it hasn’t really ever been. Solar
is a way to buttress that business in a way that also serves the purpose
of making our energy economy much cleaner."
Just as Donald Trump was pulling the
United States out of the Paris Accord on climate change, China was
opening the world's biggest floating solar farm
STR, AFP
Fraunhofer
The panels are mounted high enough to
allow the crops planted below to receive almost as much sunshine as they
would if the panels were not there and to permit farm machinery to
operate beneath them.
Fraunhofer
Between 2009 and 2015 the cost of solar power fell by 80 percent, making it competitive against gas and coal in some countries
Jack Guez, AFP/File
