2019 Solar Energy Systems Conference

Mapping the Future of Agrivoltaics

Author

Mark Brickhouse - Presenter, Saint Louis University
Agrivoltaics is at the heart of food-water-energy nexus, a new way of combining renewable energy with agriculture to address a range issues including urban heat island effects, food deserts in urban environment while improving food security under climate change challenges.

Recent demonstrations have shown that the combination of photovoltaics and agriculture on shared land increases overall land productivity. It has also been observed than when used with shade-tolerant crops, PV installations reduce transpiration and improve water retention. However, research is needed to determine the geographical sites in which agrivoltaics can have the greatest impact on bringing marginal lands into agricultural production, and new areas opened to the production of high value crops through its combination of shading and improved water retention. We propose the analysis of currently available high-definition satellite imagery and hyper-spectral imagery of potential rural and urban agrivoltaics sites to determine current status of arability, and to use modeling based on knowledge of insolation and water loss reduction by photovoltaics (PV) to determine optimum siting and crop selection. The objectives of this research will include:

  1. Improved Smart city and urban agriculture.
  2. Determination of currently marginal lands which can be brought into production by agrivoltaics.
  3. Optimization of shared light resources for energy and crop production.
  4. Plant breeding advancement for shade tolerant varieties of crops and vegetables.