Co-Generation of Solar Electricity and Agriculture Produce by Photovoltaic and Photosynthesis—Dual Model by Abellon, India

Abstract

Sustainable use of land and water is crucial in the era of climate change. Abellon Clean Energy has established 3 MW solar plant for practicing agricultural under the solar panels to address food and energy security involving a rural community. This innovation is first of its kind named as “solar-agri-electric model.” The water used for washing the solar panels to maintain efficiency by dust removal irrigates agriculture produce under the panels. This gives 24–34 tones/hectare/yr agriculture produced by reusing 78 lakhs liters of water per year and capturing 250 tons of CO2 in vegetables as food. The 3 MW solar project is registered under clean development mechanism (CDM) under United National Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that reduces 0.1 million tonnes CO2 emissions over 25 years vis-a-vis fossil fuels. Around 52 MT/yr post-harvested residues are used for organic fertilizer, composting, and fodder. Compound wall to safeguard the project site allowed creeper vegetables to grow and reduces dust deposition on the panels through wind breaking filtration. This initiative enhanced degree of sustainability along with local employment of 215 people from four villages including 156 women. In India, 1059.64 MW installed solar plants have potential to sequester 1,600,000 tons CO2/year with abilities of 10,000 tons of agricultural produce that could employ 2000 people. Worldwide solar farms have potential to sequester 143,000 MTCO2 through vegetation producing 100,000 MT of agriculture produce annually. Efficient use of natural resources requires facilitation of local/regional policies with reference to climatic condition, agricultural potential, and availability of natural resources.

A Comprehensive Review on Renewable Energy Development, Challenges, and Policies of Leading Indian States With an International Perspective

“…Installing solar panels above the crops and vegetation can create indirect sunlight to plants and help them to grow. At the same time, it also reduces the heating effect of the solar panels by retaining the humidity and moisture level below the panels [15]. GHG emissions from these agricultural fields produce hot air which can be utilized by the solar panel lying above the crops and helpful in generating electricity [16] thereby reducing the effects of GHG.…”

Agrivoltaic Systems Design and Assessment: A Critical Review, and a Descriptive Model towards a Sustainable Landscape Vision (Three-Dimensional Agrivoltaic Patterns)

“…Therefore, the area below modules may be exploited with shade-tolerant species, especially in hot arid climates. Some studies in this regard have already been carried out in India [27,28] and Malaysia [29][30][31][32] for testing species such as java tea, aloe vera or spinach (Figure 6), achieving higher crop yields for herbal plants while at the same time reducing the module temperature by 0.85%, which may increase the annual energy production up to 2.8% [33], although with a potential risk of pest due the high moisture [30]. However, concepts that combine farming and energy production on the same site are not limited to stilted solar arrays (stripes) above crops.…”

Solar Photovoltaic Architecture and Agronomic Management in Agrivoltaic System: A Review

“…These conflicts are compounded by the fact that the amount of arable land available per capita decreased by 48 percent between 1961 and 2016, owing to the global population increase [41]. Thus, it is believed that the solution of AVS technologies enables the possibility of resolving the competing interest between the two sectors' requirements while meeting the demand [14,21,[42][43][44].…”

“…Solar production could also offset global energy demand if less than 1% of cropland were converted to an AV system [17]. The integration of both productions in the same area may reduce the efficiency of either solar energy generation, agricultural production, or both productions; however, the total revenue may be increased [7,15,[18][19][20][21] than 1% of cropland were converted to an AV system [17]. The integration of both productions in the same area may reduce the efficiency of either solar energy generation, agricultural production, or both productions; however, the total revenue may be increased [7,15,[18][19][20][21] as illustrated in Figure 1.…”