Agrivoltaics

The Oil’Ive Green network of producers, which aims to cultivate 50,000 new hectares of olive trees by the end of the decade, has joined forces with Iberdrola to install agrivoltaic power plants on trackers, in order to protect farms from weather hazards and global warming.

Mondragon Assembly has provided French company Reden Solar with a 400 MW production line. Operations are scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2024.

Matteo Salvini, head of one of the parties in Italy’s coalition government, last year pointed to a future energy system based on rapidly deployed nuclear generators, sowing further doubt for renewables investors. Patrick Donati, founder of Italian independent power producer (IPP) Terrawatt, explains why nuclear will have no future in his homeland and why installing panels on a limited amount of farmland – rather than costly agrivoltaics – could be a necessary short-term climate fix.

The PV industry in Southeast Asia has come a long way since guest author Ragna Schmidt-Haupt, partner at Everoze, reported on solar financing innovation in the region more than a decade ago. In this article, she outlines five factors for success, the newest of which has the potential to become a game changer, and not only in Southeast Asia.

Mounting system manufacturers back their technology but farmers still have questions about the realities of solar on agricultural land. Ramping up research on how agrivoltaics affect farming yields could provide vital answers.

Researchers in China have build a 10 kW spectral-splitting concentrator agrivoltaic system that accomodates small farming equipment below it. The installation relies on 128 concentrator modules integrating each an ultra-white and toughened concentrating curved glass (CCG), a multilayer polymer film (MPF) and 23%-efficient interdigitated-back contact (IBC) crystalline silicon solar cells provided by Sunpower.

PV has real potential on agricultural land in Italy, where multinationals and entrepreneurs alike share an enthusiasm for solar innovation. This is being hindered by a piecemeal approach to regulation.

Europe awakened to its energy dependency on Russian gas as the Russia-Ukraine conflict unfolded and the war has pushed the European Union to accelerate its energy transition. Italy could play an important role.

The Luxembourg Ministry of Energy has allocated 52.7 MW in an agrivoltaics tender. While the final prices from the procurement exercise have not been disclosed, the ministry said it considered ecological and agricultural factors.

A research team in Spain has developed a PV system layout for super-intensive olive groves. The scientists said the system must ensure high levels of transparency in order to avoid a negative impact on the olive yield.