Browsing by Subject "Agrivoltaics"

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Agrivoltaics mitigate drought effects in winter wheat
(2023) Pataczek, Lisa; Weselek, Axel; Bauerle, Andrea; Högy, Petra; Lewandowski, Iris; Zikeli, Sabine; Schweiger, Andreas
Climate change is expected to decrease water availability in many agricultural production areas around the globe. At the same time renewable energy concepts such as agrivoltaics (AV) are necessary to manage the energy transition. Several studies showed that evapotranspiration can be reduced in AV systems, resulting in increased water availability for crops. However, effects on crop performance and productivity remain unclear to date. Carbon‐13 isotopic composition (δ13C and discrimination against carbon‐13) can be used as a proxy for the effects of water availability on plant performance, integrating crop responses over the entire growing season. The aim of this study was to assess these effects via carbon isotopic composition in grains, as well as grain yield of winter wheat in an AV system in southwest Germany. Crops were cultivated over four seasons from 2016–2020 in the AV system and on an unshaded adjacent reference (REF) site. Across all seasons, average grain yield did not significantly differ between AV and REF (4.7 vs 5.2 t ha−1), with higher interannual yield stability in the AV system. However, δ13C as well as carbon‐13 isotope discrimination differed significantly across the seasons by 1‰ (AV: −29.0‰ vs REF: −28.0‰ and AV: 21.6‰ vs REF: 20.6‰) between the AV system and the REF site. These drought mitigation effects as indicated by the results of this study will become crucial for the resilience of agricultural production in the near future when drought events will become significantly more frequent and severe.
Agrivoltaics: The environmental impacts of combining food crop cultivation and solar energy generation
(2023) Wagner, Moritz; Lask, Jan; Kiesel, Andreas; Lewandowski, Iris; Weselek, Axel; Högy, Petra; Trommsdorff, Max; Schnaiker, Marc-André; Bauerle, Andrea
The demand for food and renewable energy is increasing significantly, whereas the availability of land for agricultural use is declining. Agrivoltaic systems (AVS), which combine agricultural production with solar energy generation on the same area, are a promising opportunity with the potential to satisfy this demand while avoiding land-use conflicts. In the current study, a Consequential Life-Cycle Assessment (CLCA) was conducted to holistically assess the environmental consequences arising from a shift from single-use agriculture to AVS in Germany. The results of the study show that the environmental consequences of the installation of overhead AVS on agricultural land are positive and reduce the impacts in 15 of the 16 analysed impact categories especially for climate change, eutrophication and fossil resource use, as well as in the single score assessment, mainly due to the substitution of the marginal energy mix. It was demonstrated that, under certain conditions, AVS can contribute to the extension of renewable energy production resources without reducing food production resources. These include maintaining the agricultural yields underneath the photovoltaic (PV) modules, seeking synergies between solar energy generation and crop production and minimising the loss of good agricultural land.
The impact of agrivoltaics on crop production
(2022) Weselek, Axel; Lewandowski, Iris
Facing the consequences of global warming and climate change, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is one of the most prior tasks of todays society and policymakers. To achieve this, energy generation is currently transformed towards a reduced utilization of fossil fuels and its replacement through an increased expansion of renewable energy sources. In this context, one challenge will be to spare land resources and diminish potential land use conflicts, in particular between food and energy production. An approach to accomplish this, can be the utilization of production-integrated technologies such as agrivoltaic systems (AV). Agrivoltaic systems are photovoltaic systems specifically adapted for its application in combination with agricultural production. For this, AV systems are installed above or on agricultural fields with certain technical adaptions, enabling agricultural production to be continued. First described in 1981, this approach was taken up in the early 2000s with first AV pilot systems being developed. In first experiments in South-France it has been shown, that through the combined utilization of agricultural land for food and energy production, AV can contribute to an increment of total land productivity. While electrical yields can be increased with an increasing density of the photovoltaic modules mounted above, the proportion of light available for the plants grown underneath and consequently also agricultural yields are reduced. The aim of the present work was to examine, whether the results from these first experiments on crop production under AV can also be transferred to conditions in more moderate climates and also account for crops other than the so far investigated ones. The following four research objectives were defined: 1.) To what extent is plant-available radiation reduced by the solar panels of the AV system? 2.) How does this effect parameters of aerial and soil climate? 3.) How do the cultivated crops respond to the altered cropping conditions with regard to plant growth and development? 4.) Which consequences does this have regarding the yields and the chemical composition of the investigated crop-species? In order to examine these research objectives, a field experiment has been established underneath an experimental AV pilot facility in Southwest-Germany, near Lake Constance. Four different types of crops (grass clover, potatoes, celery and winter wheat) have been selected and cultivated underneath the AV system and on an adjacent reference area for comparison within a two-year experiment. Various microclimatic parameters were recorded in a high-resolution monitoring including all investigated crops on both sites. Crop growth and development was monitored in regular intervals during vegetation period. The harvestable yields of both experimental sites, including crop-specific yield components, were recorded and partially supplemented with an analysis of chemical compounds. The results show, that crop production under an APV system is affected in several ways. Under the given climatic conditions, losses in harvestable yields as a consequence of a reduction of crop-available radiation are most likely. Exceptional years such as 2018 suggest however, that cultivation under AV can have advantages for crop production, in particular under dry and hot climatic conditions. In order to fully exploit this potential, the application of the APV thus seems to be most suitable for more dry climatic regions, whereby innovations and developments in AV technology as well as an improved water management can facilitate a further optimization. Regardless of this, potential conflicts of interest with regard to land use cannot be ruled out and require the integration of agrivoltaics in the existing legislation.