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https://reasonstobecheerful.world/farmers-combine-farming-with-innovative-solar-technology/>
"The organic farm community of Heggelbach in the rural alpine upland of
Germany’s Baden-Wuerttemberg state is like something out of a fairy tale. Hens
cluck in front of the quaint yellow farmhouse, majestic Braunvieh cattle graze
among spring daisies in the meadows, and wheels of Camembert ripen in the
recently built cheesery. But 20 feet above the crops is something altogether
more modern: Steel columns holding 720 gleaming panels comprising 27,000 square
feet of state-of-the-art solar technology.
Heggelbach, which adheres to the strict biodynamic rules of the Demeter
Federation, is engaged in a radical experiment. Under the guidance of the
German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the Fraunhofer Institute for
Solar Energy Systems (ISE) and the University Hohenheim, the farming community
built Germany’s biggest solar installation under which crops can grow, a method
known as agrophotovoltaics (APV). In winter, the panels ward off the snow; in
the summer heat, they afford much-needed shade. And they are high enough for
farmer Florian Reyer to navigate his tractor through the rows of potatoes,
celery, trefoil grass and wheat seedlings underneath. The researchers chose
these four varieties for a reason. “They wanted to test a vegetable, a grain,
grass, and potatoes as a typical German staple food,” Reyer explains."
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
