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There is no need to "raise panels high enough". Bifacial panels may be erected vertically, in fencerows running north/south, with room for farm equipment to run
by ncmncm 4y ago
There is no need to "raise panels high enough". Bifacial panels may be erected vertically, in fencerows running north/south, with room for farm equipment to run between. Crops and livestock both do better with shade, evaporation loss is lower, and picking up morning and afternoon sun matches the demand curve better.
There is no need to pack the rows tightly, because there is way, way, way more pasture and crop land than could ever be needed for solar. All the revenue the panels provide is extra, on top of revenue from existing land use.
Solar floating on reservoirs, bays, and canals also "takes up" no land area, while it reduces evaporation loss, operates more efficiently kept cool, cuts biofouling, and provides protected habitat underneath.
The desert is a particularly dumb place to put solar panels: the panels get hot and dusty, cutting production, and the high temperature reduces both useful panel life and reliability. But ignorant investors love desert solar, so we are getting a great deal of desert solar.
Concentrated solar thermal will always be a minor player, but the desert is a reasonable place for it. It is a better source of process heat than electricity, but we do need a great deal of industrial process heat.
- ehnto 4y ago> Bifacial panels may be erected vertically, in fencerows running north/south, with room for farm equipment to run between. For specific crops, and specific approaches to cultivation and harvesting. It's still a limiting factor.
- ncmncm 4y agoBifacial fencerow panels work with almost any crop, orchards perhaps excepted. Since there is so overwhelmingly more land available to put solar on than is needed, only the very best-suited for it need be used. Some crops do better under horizontal panels, protected by them from harsh rain- and hailstorms. Since there is no need to pack the panels as tightly as they could possibly fit, you can leave plenty of room between for farm tractors. Most stuff towed behind a farm tractor lies much lower, and has no difficulty running under panels mounted at head height. We may count on farmers to decide how best to deploy solar in their own fields, without second-guessing them.
- ehnto 4y agoI am not saying there are no applications, it's a good idea. It needs to work for the farming process though, not the crop. At a certain scale of farm, small machines are not being used. Again, it would work sure, but it would take a lot of changes for many farms to implement it.
- dmitriid 4y ago...and someone has to clean those panels regularly
- ncmncm 4y agoDid you miss "vertical"?
- ehnto 4y agoI did not. Maybe we are communicating though. I don't see how it's so hard to believe that sticking big poles with panels on them throughout a field might have an impact on operations. Have you seen a modern commercial farm or do you think we still use tractors with a plow behind them? Not to mention field harvesters, not to mention automated pickers, not to mention 100 meter wide irigation rigs, not to mention aerial tractors... etc.
- dmitriid 4y agoAh yes. Vertical panels while there's agricultural work going on around them never need to be cleaned. So, they need regular access. In the middle of an active farm (see sibling comment). Farmers will have a dim view of anyone trampling their crops trying to get to these things.
- pfdietz 4y agoIt should be noted that vertical, bifacial PV will do very well in winter. So this strategy, in addition to allowing dual use of land, also helps address seasonality of solar at higher latitudes.