TY - JOUR
T1 - Radiation Limits the Yield Potential of Main Crops Under Selected Agrivoltaic Designs—A Case Study of a New Shading Simulation Method
AU - Thaler, Sabina
AU - Berger, Karl A.
AU - Eitzinger, Josef
AU - Abdollahi, Mahnaz
AU - Shala- Mayrhofer, Vitore
AU - Zamini, Shokufeh
AU - Weihs, Philipp
PY - 2024/10/25
Y1 - 2024/10/25
N2 - Agrivoltaics (APVs) represent a growing technology in Europe that enables the co-location of energy and food production in the same field. Photosynthesis requires photosynthetic active radiation, which is reduced by the shadows cast on crops by APV panels. The design of the module rows, material, and field orientation significantly influences the radiation distribution on the ground. In this context, we introduce an innovative approach for the effective simulation of the shading effects of various APV designs. We performed an extensive sensitivity analysis of the photovoltaic (PV) geometry influence on the ground-incident radiation and crop growth of selected cultivars. Simulations (2013–2021) for three representative arable crops in eastern Austria (winter wheat, spring barley, and maize) and seven different APV designs that only limited to the shading effect showed that maize and spring barley experienced the greatest annual above-ground biomass and grain yield reduction (up to 25%), with significant differences between the APV design and the weather conditions. While spring barley had similar decreases within the years, maize was characterized by high variability. Winter wheat had only up to a 10% reduction due to shading and a reduced photosynthetic performance. Cold/humid/cloudy weather during the growing season had more negative yield effects under APVs than dry/hot periods, particularly for summer crops such as maize. The lowest grain yield decline was achieved for all three crops in the APV design in which the modules were oriented to the east at a height of 5 m and mounted on trackers with an inclination of +/−50°. This scenario also resulted in the highest land equivalent ratios (LERs), with values above 1.06. The correct use of a tracker on APV fields is crucial for optimizing agricultural yields and electricity production.
AB - Agrivoltaics (APVs) represent a growing technology in Europe that enables the co-location of energy and food production in the same field. Photosynthesis requires photosynthetic active radiation, which is reduced by the shadows cast on crops by APV panels. The design of the module rows, material, and field orientation significantly influences the radiation distribution on the ground. In this context, we introduce an innovative approach for the effective simulation of the shading effects of various APV designs. We performed an extensive sensitivity analysis of the photovoltaic (PV) geometry influence on the ground-incident radiation and crop growth of selected cultivars. Simulations (2013–2021) for three representative arable crops in eastern Austria (winter wheat, spring barley, and maize) and seven different APV designs that only limited to the shading effect showed that maize and spring barley experienced the greatest annual above-ground biomass and grain yield reduction (up to 25%), with significant differences between the APV design and the weather conditions. While spring barley had similar decreases within the years, maize was characterized by high variability. Winter wheat had only up to a 10% reduction due to shading and a reduced photosynthetic performance. Cold/humid/cloudy weather during the growing season had more negative yield effects under APVs than dry/hot periods, particularly for summer crops such as maize. The lowest grain yield decline was achieved for all three crops in the APV design in which the modules were oriented to the east at a height of 5 m and mounted on trackers with an inclination of +/−50°. This scenario also resulted in the highest land equivalent ratios (LERs), with values above 1.06. The correct use of a tracker on APV fields is crucial for optimizing agricultural yields and electricity production.
KW - hemispherical photographs
KW - digital image processing
KW - HemiView;
KW - crop growth model
KW - DSSAT
KW - shadow effect
KW - APV designs
KW - land equivalent ratio
U2 - 10.3390/agronomy14112511
DO - 10.3390/agronomy14112511
M3 - Article
SN - 2073-4395
SP - 2511
JO - Agronomy
JF - Agronomy
ER -