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Floating solar power could help fight climate change – let’s get it right
- midislack 4y agoGonna need a little more than "could help" to fund this with my taxes.
- ncmncm 4y ago> Land-scarce nations such as Japan and South Korea might have to devote 5% of their land to solar farms Author parrots the "ooh, where will we find enough land" trope. But the Japanese have been deploying solar to their rice fields for years. It reduces water loss and heat stress, for more yield, and (as with floating) keeps temperature lower, for better conversion efficiency. > ...researchers are only starting to understand how pairing solar panels with crops in ‘agrivoltaic’ systems will affect food production Maybe ask the Japanese? While there are good reasons to deploy PV floating on reservoirs and shading canals, it is not for lack of other places to put them.
- fomine3 4y agoFloating solar may be cheaper than solar on rice field, because rice field needs space for machines so special solar equipment is required. Also it reduces yield. Why it is encouraged in Japan is because of usage of farm land for non-faming use is strictly restricted but having solar while farming is allowed (called "solar sharing"). There are many non-farmed farm land exist that technically able to just put solar. Japanese agriculture industry/gov is far from efficient/practical compared to other big countries. I don't think they are good reference.
- ncmncm 4y agoThank you, this is not evident in publications I have found. Some crops -- I have seen mention of tomatoes and peppers, particularly -- yield more, sometimes much more, given partial shade.
- fomine3 4y agoThose crops are more practical as you said reasons, and don't need machine for harvesting (though still need tractors but it can be small).
- foxyv 4y agoNot to mention that an island nation would have some seriously good opportunities for off-shore wind installations.
- effnorwood 4y ago