Agricultural-Photovoltaics –

is the combined use of land by agriculture for food production & photovoltaic for green power generation.

Advantages:

  • Increased land use: Combined use leads to a diversification of income & operating cost savings on the same land.
  • Environmental impact protection: PV panels protect crop from frost, drought & hails and can be used to harvest rainwater.

Technical concept:

  • PV panels are either ground mounted in vertical rows (Interspace PV) or high mounted (Overhead PV), leaving enough space for agricultural use.
  • Both technologies offer unique advantages.

Interspace PV:

  • Bifacial PV panels (e.g. ISC TuKaN technology) are mounted in vertical rows, leaving enough space in between for agricultural use.
  • The main benefits are lower cost, less impact on the landscape and advanced energy yield for East-West facing modules.

Overhead PV:

  • High mounted PV panels leave enough space underneath for agricultural use.
  • The main benefits are higher efficiency, additional crop protection against environmental impact (e.g. drought & hails) and possible rain-water harvesting.

ISC Konstanz Agri-PV Services:

  • Yield prediction for bifacial interspace or overhead PV systems
  • Design & economical analysis of Agri-PV systems
  • Scientific support of Agri-PV projects
  • Collecting and evaluating of measurement data

Part of ISC‘s service for Agri PV projects: measurement and MoBiDiG simulation.
Here: Time-of-day-dependent electrical power of a vertically installed, east-west oriented bifacial PV module.

Download Agri-PV-Flyer

Contact persons:

Jens Eickelmann

Kristian Peter