<
https://eos.org/research-spotlights/solar-panels-can-cool-crops-and-workers>
"Photovoltaic technology, most commonly seen as the bulky solar panels used on
solar farms, is expected to become a dominant energy source by 2050. But these
panels are often installed on land that might otherwise be used to grow crops
for feeding a burgeoning population.
Agrivoltaics aims to solve this problem by planting crops around or underneath
rows of solar panels, allowing for more efficient land use. In previous
studies, solar panels were shown to help shade and protect certain crops as
well as increase soil moisture, suggesting that carefully designed systems
could support both agriculture and clean energy production.
Existing agrivoltaic research, however, tends to focus on one aspect of this
process at a time—for example, light availability or crop growth—rather than
addressing the nuanced interactions between microclimates, crop type, light,
and panel type. Hosseini et al. share a new model that can simulate the
microclimates beneath solar panels and even addresses the heat stress that
workers might face in actual conditions.
The new model simulates the interactions between solar panels, crops, soil, air
and water movement, and carbon dioxide uptake by tracking how energy, momentum,
and mass move through the agrivoltaic system. The researchers used agrivoltaic
site data, including leaf temperature measurements taken in Davis, Calif., and
soil temperatures taken in Chicago City, Minn., to assess how the model’s
efforts matched real-world conditions.
They then applied the model to a hypothetical agrivoltaic tomato farm using
weather data from a hot, humid day in Princeton, N.J., a representative
location for the densely populated mid-Atlantic region, where food and energy
are both in high demand."
Via Christoph S.
Cheers,
*** 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
