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I love these experiemts. In Bavaria, one of the hop farmers is trying a similar approach in large scale. Smaller tests have shown a similar outcome like in Ital

I love these experiemts. In Bavaria, one of the hop farmers is trying a similar approach in large scale. Smaller tests have shown a similar outcome like in Italy, with the hop beeing protected from excess sunlight as well as hail and other weather. Their biggest issue currently seems to be the grid. It is (still) not designed for decentral usage and while the smaller test areas didn't have any problems, it seems like they will run into problems during peak production. But that is "just" an infrastructure problem that could be solved. I really like this dual use of land, with one complementing the other, because, as highlighted in the article, it gives farmers an additional income stream and enables them to run otherwise costly experiments with different crop. Love it.

jdeibele 3y ago
On the grid issues: it seems like battery storage is either massive or individual. What doesn't seem to be happening is battery storage at the substation level. It would take planning but substation batteries could run low during the night and be re-charged by solar panels during the day. In the event of a major power line being damaged, there would still be power for some amount of time coming from the substations. Somebody I talked with last night was vehement about how irresponsible moving to EVs is, that the grid simply isn't up to it in her opinion. It's hard to get new power lines approved but distributing energy storage seems like it would help.
- Retric 3y ago
  EV’s don’t actually need much power and adoption is going to be really slow. 15k miles per year at 4miles per kWh is only ~430 or so watts per car on average. Considering the average car lasts around 25 years even 100% of new cars becoming EV would spread the transition over 25 years.