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Bifacial fencerow panels work with almost any crop, orchards perhaps excepted. Since there is so overwhelmingly more land available to put solar on than is need
by ncmncm 4y ago
Bifacial 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.