1016
submitted 3 months ago by yokonzo@lemmy.world to c/196@lemmy.blahaj.zone
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Jumpingspiderman@lemm.ee 48 points 3 months ago

Not all agriculture is done in full sun. Ginseng, coffee and other important crops do best in shade. And you can put the panels up on grazing land. The critters often appreciate the shade which approximates a savanna environment.

[-] Fried_out_Kombi@lemmy.world 34 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

And things like vertical bifacial solar panels can work especially amazingly on grazing land that isn't suitable for crops.

Counter-intuitive as they may look, they actually have a number of benefits:

  1. The panels face east and west, meaning they generate peak power in the morning and evening, which corresponds to peak demand => less need for energy storage to bridge the gap between the mid-day peak in production from traditional PV and the aforementioned morning and evening demand peaks.
  2. The panels are vertical, which makes them easier and cheaper to maintain, as dust, snow, and rain naturally shed from their surfaces.
  3. The panels get less direct energy during mid-day, keeping their surfaces cooler. Turns out cooler solar panels are more efficient at converting light energy into electrical energy.
  4. The arrangement lends itself very naturally to agrivoltaics, which means you can derive more yields from a given piece of land and use less land overall than if you had segregated uses.
  5. The compatibility with agrivoltaics allows farmers to diversify their incomes streams and/or become energy self-sufficient.
[-] whereisk@lemmy.world 9 points 3 months ago

The vast majority of the benefit comes from the fact that they are bifacial not vertical.

In fact depending on the weather a standard mount but with bifacial panels will outperform the vertical.

This guy here does a very thorough comparison.

[-] Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 7 points 3 months ago

Solar fencing produces 3% more yield and 30% more revenue than rooftop.

https://www.gridcog.com/blog/solar-fence-vs-ground-mount-solar

[-] Silentiea@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 3 months ago

As I understand it, the biggest struggle with such panels is that it prevents heavy machinery from working the crop

this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2024
1016 points (100.0% liked)

196

16419 readers
1763 users here now

Be sure to follow the rule before you head out.

Rule: You must post before you leave.

^other^ ^rules^

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS