Interesting. How well does this integrate with existing harvesting machinery?
Vertical solar panels help farmers produce both energy and crops
Submitted 1 week ago by silence7@slrpnk.net to energy@slrpnk.net
Comments
over_clox@lemmy.world 1 week ago
perestroika@slrpnk.net 1 week ago
Machinery comes is varying width. I would guess a farmer needs to decide at some point - is the priority using a 10-meter wide tool, or is it OK to settle with a 6-meter tool, or even a smaller one.
Basing on that, they’ll decide what the clearance between rows of panels should be. From an energy installation viewpoint, the shadow of one row should not cover another row during normal operating conditions. Assuming sun at 30 degrees elevation (“September on latitude 60”), the shadow of a fence that’s 1.2 meters tall will be about 1.75 * 1.2 = 2.1 m long. So from an energy generation viewpoint, one can pack things more densely than makes sense for farming.
Tobberone@lemm.ee 1 week ago
In the article the panels look miniturised. The farmer i visited had his start 60-80cm up. Else they would be shadowed by the crop. So the height of the panels are closer to 2m.
None of that changes anything in regards to neither your math nor your reasoning, which is both enlighting and interesting😃
evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.world 1 week ago
It’s not a very long article, so they don’t get too into detail. This would use bifacial solar panels. On a purely optics standpoint, you’d think they are much worse than traditional (i.e., facing south at the right angle) panels, but they gain efficiency by staying cooler, and they generate more power when traditional solar isn’t, which helps smooth out the power generation curve. They also self clean and don’t have as much hail risk.
Tobberone@lemm.ee 1 week ago
The shade and the wind hindrance also helps with crop yield, I’ve been told by a farmer that is part of an experiment using these. The vertical panels help with moist retention, which is what is beneficial.