| Work Detail |
A group of Spanish researchers has studied how much agricultural production can be accommodated by ground-mounted photovoltaic plants that use dual-axis trackers. They have outlined a new methodology that apparently makes it possible to quantify how much space around and under the panels can be dedicated to agricultural uses.
A group of researchers from the University of Córdoba (Spain) has developed a new method to calculate how much land could be allocated to agricultural uses under photovoltaic plants based on dual-axis solar trackers.
The scientists analyzed, specifically, the behavior of solar irradiance in a south-facing facility that houses a tree crop in hedges planted in the same direction and verified that there is a geometric space between the rows of panels in which the crop does not It would overshadow the modules.
The specific objective of the proposed methodology is to identify these unshaded areas between the two-axis solar trackers. “Based on this analysis, an innovative method is proposed to estimate the maximum available space that crops could occupy within photovoltaic plants with rectangular collectors on two-axis trackers with subsequent tracking,” they explained.
In the study “ Methodology for the estimation of cultivable space in photovoltaic installations with dual-axis trackers for their reconversion to agrivoltaic plants ”, Published in Applied Energy , the academics pointed out that the novel methodology initially defines the West, South and Azimuth vectors that characterize the photovoltaic system.
It also considers the latitude of the place and the solar declination, as well as the hour angle given by the angular speed of rotation of the Earth, the time with respect to solar noon and the unit vector directed towards the solar disk at all times.
“Once the azimuth and elevation of the solar collectors are known, it is possible to determine the unit vector normal to the surface of the collectors at each instant,” the academics explained, noting that the proposed approach analyzes the behavior of the vectors as a consequence of the movement of the collectors that depends on the position of the sun at each moment.
The novel methodology was applied through a simulation to the Molino photovoltaic plant, located in Córdoba and equipped with dual-axis solar trackers, in order to identify the pentagonal arable space between the collectors.
This analysis allowed the researchers to identify, along the North-South direction, several trapezoidal streets available for cultivation. These have a width of 10.5 m, a minimum height of 1.31 m in the lateral areas and a maximum height of 2.81 m in the central area.
According to scientists, the curve of the percentage of the maximum cultivable area is a function of the height of the crop. “The actual cultivated area will be less, since this maximum cultivated area can be adapted to the typical and appropriate alignment and geometry for the specific crop selected, as well as the limitations imposed by the exploitation of the crop,” they specified.
They verified that the Molino plant offers up to 74% of cultivable surface in the space between collectors, and they pointed out that this space decreases as the height of the crop increases. "Therefore, the agricultural production of the agricultural plant and its yield will depend on the crop finally selected," they stressed. |
