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Sandbox Solar, a company promoting the solar sector and recipient of a US federal grant, has published a beta version of its computer tool for modeling agrovoltaic power plants. It allows designing and optimizing the solar panels and the crops below.
Agrovoltaics, the integration of food production and solar energy, is an emerging technology that makes better use of limited land and soil resources. As the industry is young, there is not yet a nimble web application like Aurora or Helioscope to help solar developers quickly draw up designs, taking into account the crops below.
Sandbox Solar, a solar energy contractor, has been developing such a tool, called the Spade. Spades goal is to help solar developers determine the best types of crops and arrangement of solar panels for their projects. The tool entered the fifth and final round of the Department of Energys “American Made” solar innovation program. The first beta version of Spade is now available, and it has already been used to develop solar energy projects combined with potatoes, hemp, hops, and other crops.
The software generates several key numerical results: irradiance, as well as Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) and Mean Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density (PPFD), which are two lesser-known types of light measurements in the solar industry.
PAR refers to the range of wavelengths that are useful for photosynthesis, while PPFD measures the density of photons within that range that hit a specific surface. Not all wavelengths of light are equally effective for photosynthesis; Plants typically use blue (400 to 500 nm) and red (600 to 700 nm) light more efficiently than green (500 to 600 nm) light. Both PAR and PPFD are crucial for understanding and optimizing light conditions for plant growth and photosynthesis.
Information is displayed both visually using graphs, and numerically, such as watts per square meter and PAR/PPFD values. Again, PAR is the amount of useful light that will reach the plants growing between the solar panels. In fact, most crops compatible with agrivoltaics benefit from the lower irradiance offered by the shade of solar panels.
Spades team told us that the fundamental approach to optimizing agrivoltaic projects is to address the three Cs: configuration, climate and crops. By carefully considering these factors, a developer can refine their strategies by spacing and elevating solar panels to maximize land use, ensuring the best possible balance between power generation and agriculture.
Hickey has been with Sandbox for more than five years and currently works part-time at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. He uses Spade directly in design work for clients and on Sandbox agrivoltaic projects.
“Spade has revolutionized what Ive been able to do internally,” says Hickey.
In a recent conversation with pv magazine USA , Alexis Pascaris - one of the main developers of Spade software - highlighted Massachusetts agrivoltaic program and the exclusive incentives of the states SMART solar program. With Hickey and Pascaris running the processes, Spade has worked with developers as a contract professional who liaises with the Department of Agriculture to move projects through the SMART application process. Pascaris suggested that Spades shadow analysis tools are more accurate than what Massachusetts currently requires.
Ian Skor, founder of Sandbox Solar, said he believes the current iteration of the tool is robust enough to meet the immediate needs of both the company and its consulting clients. However, he acknowledges that there is room for growth in developing the softwares frontend to facilitate better online interactions and refine its overall functionality.
Alexis says the company is budgeting to take Spade to the next level so they can start an investment RFP sometime in 2023. At this time, the team doesnt have any fully installed projects that have been developed with Spade. However, several projects designed with Spade are scheduled to begin construction shortly, including an internal vertical bifacial project. |
