Agrivoltaic agrotunnels are currently designed for high-density grow walls that are not amenable to bush berries or root crops. Commercial grow bins provide deeper substrates for produce with more root systems but have high costs per unit growing area. To overcome the economic limitations of grow bins, this study applies the distributed manufacturing open-source design paradigm to develop four designs for low-cost open-source structures. The designs target root vegetables and bush fruit specifically to be adopted by remote communities with limited or no outdoor growing environment to offset the market price for imported fresh produce. The indoor growing designs provide the necessary structure for supporting grow lights and grow bins and enable the transplanted berry plants to flower and produce fruits. They provide a comparable amount (110 L) or more of grow volume from 106 to 192 L. The water reservoir volume for the commercial system (62 L) and grow area (0.5 m3) is surpassed by all new designs that range from 64 to 192 L and 0.51 to 0.76 m3, respectively. These superior properties are possible with material costs for all four designs that save more than 90% of the economic cost of the commercial systems.
See also[edit | edit source]
The Western Innovation for Renewable Energy (WIRED) system is currently under construction to test out new open source methods to reduce PV systems costs and enable novel forms of agrivoltaics including the world's first agrivoltaic agrotunnel.
- Coal with Carbon Capture and Sequestration is not as Land Use Efficient as Solar Photovoltaic Technology for Climate Neutral Electricity Production
- Dual use of land for PV farms and agriculture literature review
- sheep
- Israeli white plastic reflectors
- A Farmer's Guide to Going Solar (NREL)
- German guidelines: https://www.ise.fraunhofer.de/content/dam/ise/en/documents/publications/studies/APV-Guideline.pdf
- 2021 review
- Miskin, C.K., Li, Y., Perna, A., Ellis, R.G., Grubbs, E.K., Bermel, P. and Agrawal, R., 2019. Sustainable co-production of food and solar power to relax land-use constraints. Nature Sustainability, 2(10), pp.972-980.
- Retrofitting solar parks for agrivoltaics
- Shading PV
- Alexis' talk at American Solar Grazing Association2021
In the News[edit source]
- Agrivoltaics: solar energy + better crops Climate and Nature
- Why solar power and farmers’ fields could be the perfect combination TVO
- Solar farms and sheep show the makings of a clean energy classic duo Business Renewables
- Agrivoltaics charge up St. Albert-area farms St Albert Gazette
- Sheep, solar and crops. How some Alberta farms are creating ideal growing conditions Western Wheel
- Sheep, solar and crops. How some Alberta farms create ideal growing conditions Voxpopuli
- 3D printed clamps for front-surface PV mounting on wood racking PV Magazine
- Harvesting the Sun to Grow in the Shade Garden Culture Magazine
- What crops fit with vertical agrivoltaics? PV Magazine
- Agrivoltaics – Keeping the farm in the solar farm Green Energy Futures
- Booming solar industry has a growing appetite for weed-chomping crews CBC
- La floreciente industria solar tiene un creciente apetito por equipos de devoradores de maleza Espanol news
- Des cochons à l’ombre des panneaux solaires, l’agrivoltaïsme gagne en popularité Radio Canada
- Pigs in the shade of solar panels, agrivoltaics gains popularity Euro Day France
- Des porcs à l’ombre des panneaux solaires, l’agrivoltaïque gagne en popularité News Day France
- ICI Radio
- The Weather Network
- Agrowoltaika zyskuje na wartości. Panele słoneczne na polu nie przekreślają upraw Business Insider Poland
- Kanada/ Coraz popularniejsza agrowoltaika: rolnictwo i produkcja energii w jednym Deon Pl
- Tu zboże, tam fotowoltaika. Rolnicy produkują i żywność i energię na jednym polu Bankier PL
- Kanada: coraz popularniejsza agrowoltaika: rolnictwo i produkcja energii w jednym MSN PL
- Agrowoltaika podbija świat (Agrovoltaics is conquering the world ) Warzywnichtow Polish
- Coraz popularniejsza agrowoltaika - rolnictwo i produkcja energii w jednym Agro Polska
- Agriculture and Energy Future - Agrivoltaics Agritecture
- MBA students examine a solar farm’s benefits for critical issues case competition Ivey
- Ontario solar curbs rankle expert BNN Bloomberg