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https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1145257
INTRO: Planting broccoli under magenta solar panels helped the plants absorb sunlight more efficiently than those grown out in the open finds a study publishing October 2 in the Cell Press journal Cell Reports Physical Science. Scientists used customized, semi-transparent solar panels to generate electricity while boosting blue- and red-light wavelengths to enhance broccoli growth.
The crops grown with these panels showed a 4.5-fold increase in how efficiently they used sunlight and ultimately grew as large as traditional broccoli, although it took them 25 days longer to mature. The solar panels offer a potential tool for farmers to harvest renewable energy while sustaining crop yields.
“The basic concept is quite straightforward,” says author Silvia Ma Lu of Mälardalen University in Västerås, Sweden. “The solar panels use part of the incoming sunlight to generate renewable electricity while allowing part of the light to pass through to the crops growing underneath.
The broader goal is to investigate whether sunlight can be used more efficiently by allocating different portions of the solar spectrum to crop growth and electricity generation.”
Using conventional solar panels on farm fields allows farmers to produce renewable electricity on land where ample space is already available while protecting plants from exposure to too much sunlight and extreme weather such as hail or heavy rainfall. However, since conventional dark-blue panels are typically opaque, they can create too much shade, reducing some crops’ yields—which semi-transparent and colored panels can help mitigate.
“There is no single agrivoltaic design that will work optimally everywhere,” says Ma Lu. “More research is needed to understand how different crops respond to different system configurations and climatic conditions and to design systems that balance agricultural production with renewable electricity generation.” (MORE - no ads)
INTRO: Planting broccoli under magenta solar panels helped the plants absorb sunlight more efficiently than those grown out in the open finds a study publishing October 2 in the Cell Press journal Cell Reports Physical Science. Scientists used customized, semi-transparent solar panels to generate electricity while boosting blue- and red-light wavelengths to enhance broccoli growth.
The crops grown with these panels showed a 4.5-fold increase in how efficiently they used sunlight and ultimately grew as large as traditional broccoli, although it took them 25 days longer to mature. The solar panels offer a potential tool for farmers to harvest renewable energy while sustaining crop yields.
“The basic concept is quite straightforward,” says author Silvia Ma Lu of Mälardalen University in Västerås, Sweden. “The solar panels use part of the incoming sunlight to generate renewable electricity while allowing part of the light to pass through to the crops growing underneath.
The broader goal is to investigate whether sunlight can be used more efficiently by allocating different portions of the solar spectrum to crop growth and electricity generation.”
Using conventional solar panels on farm fields allows farmers to produce renewable electricity on land where ample space is already available while protecting plants from exposure to too much sunlight and extreme weather such as hail or heavy rainfall. However, since conventional dark-blue panels are typically opaque, they can create too much shade, reducing some crops’ yields—which semi-transparent and colored panels can help mitigate.
“There is no single agrivoltaic design that will work optimally everywhere,” says Ma Lu. “More research is needed to understand how different crops respond to different system configurations and climatic conditions and to design systems that balance agricultural production with renewable electricity generation.” (MORE - no ads)