AgriPV

TotalEnergies said its new 111 kW pilot facility in France will show the impact of solar panels on agricultural yield, while also shedding light on biodiversity, carbon storage, and water quality.

TubeSolar and the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg have achieved a power conversion efficiency of 14% for a photovoltaic film based on perovskite.

Researchers in Egypt have studied the use of solar power and anaerobic digestion for a 6,300-square-meter farm capable of housing 200 head of milk/beef cattle. They found that this combination could achieve a cost of energy of $0.0226/kWh.

On June 27, the Guidelines for The Design, Construction and Operation of Agrovoltaic Plants were published in Italy by the Ministry of Ecological Transition, in coordination with the Council for Agricultural Research and Analysis of Agricultural Economics (CREA), Gestore dei Servizi Energetici S.p.A. (GSE), the National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), and Research on the Energy System S.p.A. (RSE). From now on, developers and, in general, RES plant owners will have to consider the principles herein outlined, to have their plants classified as agrovoltaic.

A group of 35 French agricultural entrepreneurs decided to change their agricultural practices to adapt to the low quality of their groundwater and chose agrivoltaics as a way to compensate for crop yield losses.

France’s Q Energy has developed a new way to combine solar generation and the cultivation of hops, which can grow up to 8 meters in height. The agrivoltaic system consists of two mounting units with 52 bifacial PV modules.

Romania is set to put new solar regulations into force through the end of 2026. The rules will allow PV, wind, biomass, bioliquid, biogas, storage projects, and transformer stations to be built directly on land in several previously prohibited fertility classes.

Scientists in South Korea have combined PV generation with vegetable farming and have found that solar array shading provides favorable results for crops such as broccoli and cabbage.

The importance of biodiversity on solar farms is coming into sharper focus, due to the intersecting forces of sustainable finance and the UK Environment Act. These positive influences will likely change the way the industry and the public view solar farms, as they evolve into biodiversity hotspots that lead the recovery of nature. Everoze Partner Ellie van der Heijden discusses how boosting biodiversity can be an opportunity for solar developers and investors to increase their positive impact.

A Slovakian startup has developed a photovoltaic-integrated arm that provides off-grid power for weeding and other small agricultural applications. In its largest configuration, the system is 18 meters long, has a capacity of 2.4 kW, and is able to cover a cultivated area of 994 m².