Author: Michał Ratajewicz

Photovoltaic farms are a point of contention for many people – their owners tend to praise them because of the profits they make, while outsiders see them as one way of disfiguring the landscape. However, only few people know that there is a way for farmers to profit even more from photovoltaic farms. We are, of course, talking about agro-voltaics. 

What is agro-voltaics?

Literally, it is a combination of the word ‘agro’ meaning field or farm with the word ‘photovoltaics’. So you can guess that there is a combination of agriculture and photovoltaics. 

Why is it profitable?

It turns out that some vegetables can be successfully grown under the photovoltaic farms. Moreover, the panels can even have a positive effect on their growth, as a kind of symbiosis develops between them. The modules create a canopy for the plants, thus protecting them from the harmful effects of the weather and providing shade for the shade-loving ones. Broccoli, for example, grows very well under these conditions.

A photovoltaic farm is an installation with a capacity ranging from a few tens of kW to several MW. It is installed on the ground with an aim to produce and distribute electricity to the electricity grid.  

Such a plant can be built on a flat and south-oriented area of approximately 2 hectares or more. The land on which the installation will be built must not be located near buildings and trees that could restrict access to sunlight. Such a farm can provide an alternative source of power for central heating systems or for many appliances and households located in smaller towns. 

There are many positive aspects of such a solution, including the possibility of full energy independence and self-sufficiency. In addition, efficiency and a long-lasting quality guarantee are a huge plus. It would be impossible not to mention the savings on electricity that the construction of such a farm entails.

A solar power plant pays off after only a few years, which significantly influences the investment decision. Such installations also reduce carbon dioxide emissions, which improves the environment.

Is the transfer of solar energy to space possible? It looks like it is! This would allow using the Sun to supply the Earth with energy in an even more efficient way, due to the much greater intensity of sunlight.

As the plans are implemented, the major benefit for the Earth would be the chance to become CO2 neutral. It is also a step towards total energy independence. Further details as well as plans for this project are going to be discussed in November, at the meeting of the Ministers responsible for space travels.

In the next few decades the vision of extracting energy straight from space could become a reality. The idea has been around for long enough and the race to become a pioneer of this realisation is well underway. Chinese specialists among others, are working on the project, having already tested the most important technologies and planning to put the project into practice in about 13 years. The British specialists are also working on developing their own system with great enthusiasm, and American scientists have been exploring the possibility of using such technologies for some time. The use of these projects is mostly planned for the 2040s and 2050s.

According to the plans, the satellite is to be placed at an altitude of more than 35,000 km, in a so-called geostationary orbit. This solution will provide the delivery of electricity to the grid 24 hours a day with antennas located on Earth capturing it. The total cost of the project is estimated at between €8 billion and more than €31 billion for 30 years.

Renewable energy is a great way to help the environment and the economy but not everyone knows how to use it efficiently. A photovoltaic farm is of course a very beneficial solution, still it is definitely more worthwhile to combine it with energy storage. For this reason, we give you some tips so that you can consciously and appropriately store solar energy produced on a photovoltaic farm.

What is energy storage and how it works?

It is a separate device that forms part of a photovoltaic installation. Energy storage is used to store clean, environmentally friendly energy. In other words, the energy storage allows us to recover the excess electricity produced by our installation and use it at any time or sell it. 

There are many types of energy storage so everyone can find the best solution.

Why is energy storage on a farm so important?

The answer is simple. Energy storage can perform a variety of important functions – not only storing energy for later sale, but also controlling connection power, improving the characteristics of DSO-friendly current and stabilizing the grid. 

Storing solar energy on a farm is a simple solution that requires an initial investment. Still it brings many benefits from the first day. The more we know about this kind of solution, the more advantage of the opportunities that modern technology offers us we take.

Nowadays the popularity of photovoltaic farms keeps growing. This is the reason why scientists are constantly looking for new solutions, resulting in unusual, innovative projects. One of them is the latest idea of scientists from Switzerland, Austria and Germany, who have joined their forces and came up with photovoltaic farms erected over highways and expressways. 

It’s a great initiative to create additional space for generating low-carbon energy, because as we all know – there’s never enough clean energy. The installations are expected to stand over Swiss roads as early as 2023. That means thousands of kilometers of highways, thus thousands of kilometers of photovoltaic panels and huge amounts of green electricity produced

The first stage of the project is to develop a prototype of the roof so that it meets all the requirements for, among other things, safety and resistance to possible damage. The next stage is to estimate the cost of the entire project, along with its subsequent maintenance and to test the effectiveness of the installation conducted for a year on selected sections. 

The realization of this project has many more advantages than the mere production of low-carbon energy. These include protecting the pavement from various weather conditions which helps to increase its lifespan, improve safety and the comfort of residents, as the canopy is also intended to act as noise barriers. 

The project is financed by the Research Promotion Agency, the Austrian Ministry for Climate, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, the German Federal Ministry of Transport and the Swiss Federal Office of Roads and Highways. This combination certainly guarantees success. We’re looking forward to further details and more innovative projects in the future. 

Title picture source: http://www.greendream.foundation/

Photovoltaics as well as photovoltaic farms keep enjoying unflagging and even growing popularity for several years. However, have you heard of any use of photovoltaics in conjunction with garbage? We assume you haven’t but such use exists as an opportunity for landfills and their second life.

It has already been applied in many countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Poland, and has been well accepted. Depending on the country, the reasons and sites vary but any reason to invest in clean energy is good. The most common use is of so-called “brownfields,” which are environmentally hazardous sites that have no promising future. This is because the surface on this type of site as well as what lies beneath it, is heavily contaminated and physically unstable. Photovoltaic farms are therefore a lifesaver for such. As many as 21 such projects have been built in the United States and they have produced as much as 207 megawatts (as of 2021).

Another aspect for which farms are being built on landfills is the fact that in many countries there is no permission to build on these kinds of sites even for several decades after closure! This is how the situation in Poland looks like. As an example a photovoltaic farm can be really a “second life” for such a site.

You are probably wondering what happens to the electricity produced at these farms? Well, most often it is collected by municipalities, so their residents pay up to 80% less for energy.

A photovoltaic farm always brings only advantages because the electricity is produced from renewable sources of energy. It’s not only about saving money but above all, about caring for the future of our planet and accelerating the energy transition which is extremely important now.