Agri-voltaic system for climate-smart agriculture and clean energy generation

Abstract

Production of food grain through photosynthesis process requires land as basic resources. Similarly, conversion of solar energy to electrical energy through photovoltaic process also requires land for its installation. Therefore, competition for land may arise in future for agricultural use and PV based electricity generation. There is possibility that solar PV based electricity production will be preferred over agriculture because of higher efficiency of photovoltaic process (~15%) than photosynthetic process (~3%) specifically in those areas where solar irradiation is available in plenty however, land productivity potential is low. Substantial focus on renewable energy based electricity generation in future with solar PV as a dominating contributor throughout the world may further aggravate the situation. However, food is the basic need for survival of human being. Therefore, it is thought of producing both simultaneously from a single land unit through agri-photovoltaic system. Agri-photovoltaic system is defined as crop production and photovoltaic based electricity generation from a single land unit. The rainwater harvesting system from top surface of PV modules in agri-photovoltaic system has the capability to provide water for cleaning purpose and supplemental irrigation to crops in agri-voltaic system. Moreover, the agri-voltaic system helps in clean energy generation from cultivable area and thus may be a potential tool to mitigate the adverse effect of climate change. In this paper, technical details of agri-voltaic system along with its potential to produce crop, generate energy and harvest rain water is discussed.