By Rebecca Owen
Photovoltaic technology, most commonly seen as 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 and feed 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 and 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 among microclimates, crop type, light and panel type.
A model built for real conditions
A study published in Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems shares a new model that can simulate the microclimates beneath solar panels and addresses the heat stress workers might face in actual conditions.
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