Crops under solar panels can be a win-win

This is interesting

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They report that not only do crops grow better using less water for the amount of food produced the solar panels stay cooler improving their electrical production. True win-win.

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  Rick C. 

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Rick C
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Like you could probably grow a shit load of weed under there, and have solar-powered lights under the panels to grow the weed.

Reply to
bitrex

From one of the comments, there are a lot more photos at .

Those seem to show that the spacing between the rows is a lot more than usual for solar farms. However, as a concept it's an interesting idea.

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Jeff
Reply to
Jeff Layman

-win-win/

mount of food produced the solar panels stay cooler improving their electri cal production. True win-win.

On the Australian news last night they had some farmers grazing sheep under solar panels. Apparently the shade from the solar panels leaves more water in the ground so the grazing is better there, even though the the grass do esn't get as much sun. Another win-win.

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Bill Sloman, Sydney
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Bill Sloman

Jeff Layman wrote in news:qkt0es$n8t$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

So. Less watts per acre than a FOOLy populated solar farm space. Big deal. It is still a GREAT idea.

I'd take a FARMly populated solar/agri farm any day over a FOOLy populated waste of The Earth's surface soil in the name of grabbing a few more watts worth of photons.

I go tri-fold.

Grow weed under the 'canopy'. It oxygenates almost better than any other plant. It produces seed that contain serious amounts of anti- oxidants and is second only to soy in protein content. We could feed hungry masses with it... birds too. It smells great! and you can sell the buds as the benign enebriant and homeopathic medicine that it is.

Reply to
DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno

Solar cells with LEDs on the bottom? Why didn't I patent that?

Reply to
jlarkin

It happens to be a silly idea, and you don't patent stuff anyway.

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Bill Sloman, Sydney
Reply to
Bill Sloman

Till somebody runs a harvester down the rows and clips a few of the panels. ;)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

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Phil Hobbs

Study was conducted in arid area of southwest where literally anything is an improvement. It is not a general recommendation.

Reply to
bloggs.fredbloggs.fred

We harvest our organic kale crop with short volunteer greenies with gunny sacks on their backs.

Reply to
jlarkin

The solar cells can power water sprayers.

Reply to
jlarkin

What spectrum of light does the weeds grow best under?

It's not a solar powered flashlight it's a "electromagnetic radiative energy spectrum conversion system" you see.

Reply to
bitrex

e-a-win-win/

e amount of food produced the solar panels stay cooler improving their elec trical production. True win-win.

s an improvement. It is not a general recommendation.

The water is a more valuable commodity than the electricity it takes to run irrigation pumps, and they really want to be using drip irrigation in plac es like this, and drip is low power.It probably drove the idea of using the panels for shading in the first place, although a lot stuff doesn't do wel l in shade. Notice they didn't mention any of the economics, but the crummy vegetable crop isn't going to make up for the loss of revenue due to great ly reduced panel density. Modern agriculture is heading for catastrophic collapse in so many ways. Th ey have HUGE problems. Here is a story about their plastics problem:

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astic-problem These plastic products are absolutely essential, but it's getting unsustain able.

Reply to
bloggs.fredbloggs.fred

-a-win-win/

amount of food produced the solar panels stay cooler improving their elect rical production. True win-win.

er solar panels. Apparently the shade from the solar panels leaves more wat er in the ground so the grazing is better there, even though the the grass doesn't get as much sun. Another win-win.

WOW- that's some unbelievably powerful out-of-the-box thinking there! Good that this is finally working its way to Australia anyway...

"An additional solar and agriculture co-location technique is to keep a her d of sheep or other livestock within the enclosure of a ground-mounted PV s ystem to help control vegetation height. Doing so can significantly reduce operation costs for solar developers. A spokesperson for Duke Energy, one o f the largest electric utility companies in the United States, noted that a part from the lease of the land, vegetation management (i.e., lawnmowing) i s the primary operating expense at their solar facilities. A mutually benef icial partnership can be established between sheep farmers and solar develo pers, where the developers provide grazing land at the site of their solar development and the sheep provide low-cost vegetation control. Multiple she ep farming companies have been founded on this principle and can help provi de a key source of revenue for 21st-century farmers. Other types of animals have been tested for solar vegetation management, but sheep have often pro ven to be the best tenants of the land. Horses can be picky about what they eat, cows are large and require a lot of space, and goats tend to chew on wires and climb on panels."

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Reply to
bloggs.fredbloggs.fred

There's gloom and destruction everywhere you look. Enjoy.

Some fathead Dem candidate said that driving cars will "destroy the planet" as he boarded his private plane.

Global Warming has become Climate Change has become Climate Crisis. What's next?

Reply to
John Larkin

Yes, a master of the obvious. Thanks for the insight.

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Rick C

-be-a-win-win/

the amount of food produced the solar panels stay cooler improving their el ectrical production. True win-win.

is an improvement. It is not a general recommendation.

un irrigation pumps, and they really want to be using drip irrigation in pl aces like this, and drip is low power.It probably drove the idea of using t he panels for shading in the first place, although a lot stuff doesn't do w ell in shade. Notice they didn't mention any of the economics, but the crum my vegetable crop isn't going to make up for the loss of revenue due to gre atly reduced panel density.

Loss of revenue??? You seem to want to optimize something that is not so i mportant. I suppose some will say this is a solar farm with reduced densit y. Others will see it as a crop farm that also produces electricity.

The point is there is a synergy and it can do both. The only issue is whet her this works out to be better than either one alone. You have contribute d nothing to that part of the conversation, just waving your arms in the ai r yelling, "reduced panel density!"

They have HUGE problems. Here is a story about their plastics problem:

plastic-problem

inable.

With all the plastics use in the world and all the problems it creates, you seem to be overly focused on this one part of the problem. Why is this an y worse than any other plastic disposal problem? Why is this harder to sol ve? Seems to me like they have a handle on it mostly because it is big bus iness and at least the collection issue is greatly reduced.

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Rick C

an-be-a-win-win/

r the amount of food produced the solar panels stay cooler improving their electrical production. True win-win.

ng is an improvement. It is not a general recommendation.

run irrigation pumps, and they really want to be using drip irrigation in places like this, and drip is low power.It probably drove the idea of using the panels for shading in the first place, although a lot stuff doesn't do well in shade. Notice they didn't mention any of the economics, but the cr ummy vegetable crop isn't going to make up for the loss of revenue due to g reatly reduced panel density.

important. I suppose some will say this is a solar farm with reduced dens ity. Others will see it as a crop farm that also produces electricity.

LOL- there is such a thing as putting numbers to it. That experimental thin g looks like 25% land use for the solar max. That is a major reduction in o utput. And what the heck makes you think vegetable farms use inordinate amo unts of energy? They don't.

ether this works out to be better than either one alone. You have contribu ted nothing to that part of the conversation, just waving your arms in the air yelling, "reduced panel density!"

There is no synergy whatsoever with this dumb scheme. And there isn't a pro blem with solar consuming prime agricultural land. Much of it is being loca ted in areas where agriculture is impractical if not impossible. The market is a corrective influence in that the cost of prime land is sky high compa red to the unusable land, so the solar installations go onto agriculturally unusable land. BUT on the political side, many localities are banning sola r in areas zoned for agriculture, even though agriculture may be failing th ere or the land is fallow. The bans are mainly due to sentimentality and no t science or economics based. So this solar/agriculture "synergy" nonsense is a way to attempt to circumvent the bans.

. They have HUGE problems. Here is a story about their plastics problem:

n-plastic-problem

tainable.

ou seem to be overly focused on this one part of the problem. Why is this any worse than any other plastic disposal problem? Why is this harder to s olve? Seems to me like they have a handle on it mostly because it is big b usiness and at least the collection issue is greatly reduced.

If the problem is huge, then it's huge. Attempting to diminish it by compar ison with even worse problems is not constructive. The agricultural turnove r is seasonal, it is non-stop, and there are no alternatives on the horizon .

Reply to
bloggs.fredbloggs.fred

Too late now.

Back around 1990 I got a job at a startup which was working on what eventually became the 3DO Multiplayer CD-ROM-based videogame system. The startup was still in stealth mode. What the founders were saying to anyone who asked, was "Battery-less technology. On even-numbered days we're developing a wind-powered fan. On odd-numbered days we're developing a solar-powered flashlight."

Reply to
Dave Platt

-can-be-a-win-win/

for the amount of food produced the solar panels stay cooler improving thei r electrical production. True win-win.

hing is an improvement. It is not a general recommendation.

to run irrigation pumps, and they really want to be using drip irrigation i n places like this, and drip is low power.It probably drove the idea of usi ng the panels for shading in the first place, although a lot stuff doesn't do well in shade. Notice they didn't mention any of the economics, but the crummy vegetable crop isn't going to make up for the loss of revenue due to greatly reduced panel density.

so important. I suppose some will say this is a solar farm with reduced de nsity. Others will see it as a crop farm that also produces electricity.

ing looks like 25% land use for the solar max. That is a major reduction in output. And what the heck makes you think vegetable farms use inordinate a mounts of energy? They don't.

You still aren't getting it. Farms don't typically source electricity, alt hough there are a few around here that have put solar collectors on barns a nd such.

You seem to want to compare to a single purpose solar installation rather t han look at the whole picture. Consider it a farm that produces electricit y. Now the ground coverage by the solar cells is not so important is it?

The important numbers were mentioned in the report although they didn't loo k at crop yield per land area which may or may not be different from other farms.

You are missing the point which is that the solar collectors improve the gr owing of the crops and the crops improve the operation of the solar collect ors. This is not a commercial crop/solar farm. Like many here if it isn't packaged and sealed and ready for delivery you seem to think it can't poss ibly be practical. So I suppose nuclear energy is not practical either sin ce we have no idea how to maintain waste products for 10,000 years.

whether this works out to be better than either one alone. You have contri buted nothing to that part of the conversation, just waving your arms in th e air yelling, "reduced panel density!"

roblem with solar consuming prime agricultural land. Much of it is being lo cated in areas where agriculture is impractical if not impossible. The mark et is a corrective influence in that the cost of prime land is sky high com pared to the unusable land, so the solar installations go onto agricultural ly unusable land. BUT on the political side, many localities are banning so lar in areas zoned for agriculture, even though agriculture may be failing there or the land is fallow. The bans are mainly due to sentimentality and not science or economics based. So this solar/agriculture "synergy" nonsens e is a way to attempt to circumvent the bans.

Oh, there's the problem. You didn't actually read the report or you wouldn 't say "there is no synergy". Go back and read and then we'll talk.

As to your point of using only "agriculturally unusable land", that's pure BS. A 500 MW installation, one of the largest in the US is being built 10 miles from here on land that is in use for lumber harvesting. There is no shortage of land here, other than for homes which is the main complaint wit h the facility, it's right next to a neighborhood.

The issue also isn't that land is scarce. The report shows how solar and c rops can improve each other. Oh, but you didn't read the report, I forgot.

ys. They have HUGE problems. Here is a story about their plastics problem:

ion-plastic-problem

ustainable.

you seem to be overly focused on this one part of the problem. Why is thi s any worse than any other plastic disposal problem? Why is this harder to solve? Seems to me like they have a handle on it mostly because it is big business and at least the collection issue is greatly reduced.

arison with even worse problems is not constructive. The agricultural turno ver is seasonal, it is non-stop, and there are no alternatives on the horiz on.

I'm just looking at where to spend the problem solving capital. I don't th ink farm based plastics are the important issue at the moment. We can't ad dress every problem at once... and "huge" is a relative term so, no, it's n ot such a big problem relatively speaking. I'm not sure how it is even rel evant to the issue at hand. Maybe you'd like to open an new thread to disc uss that?

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  Rick C. 

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