Solar Panels Plus Farming? Agrivoltaics Explained

But what do you think? Should we be trying to use agrivoltaics everywhere? Are there any other dual use renewable energy examples that you know about? If you liked this video, be sure to check out 28,000 Year Nuclear Waste Battery? Diamond Batteries Explained kzhead.info/sun/ibuwe9WLsZOhjI0/bejne.html

Sunny California with it's water shortages comes to mind for this. Saving 50% water costs, adding income from power generation and maintaining same yield - a win-win.

As a Dutch Greenhouse Manufacturing Engineer I can already tell you that we calculate the steel constructions with the posibility to directly or later install solar panels. This means that when the end customer wants to place solar panels he can do so without any repurcussions from the local governments as the building permit and the construction calculations are already in place for any eventual agrivoltaic farming. But your story has enlightened me in a few more ways so thank you for that!

To me agrivoltaics seems to be most effective in smaller operations where heavy machinery isn't used. The raspberry farm was a perfect example of that. Basically if it grows in a plastic tunnel and it's harvested by hand, agrivoltaics will probably be perfect.

I have a home garden/homestead in the desert and I'm constantly having to use shade cloth to protect my crops. Even sun loving crops like peppers can get burnt to a crisp if it gets particularly hot and bright. I'm legit considering trying to slap together a home setup like this.

In India, we do something like this by placing solar panels at the top of canals. Because there are lots of canals in India. The extra benefit is solar panels reduce the loss of water due to evaporation providing extra for agriculture. The shade also prevents the growth of algae in the water. And the presence of water underneath keeps the panels cool.

I wish that instead of the "car broiler" top deck on parking decks in urban areas, the top deck would be covered with solar panel for shading cars & people, as well as generating electricity. This could be beneficial for powering more charging stations in the deck.

Although I did not know the concept existed I imagined it and went searching for just this idea. I searched ‘can you grow under solar panels?’ and was VERY PLEASED to find this video on agrivoltaics!!!! Thank you for this beautifully explained video. We are building a home in Jamaica and I was saddened by the builder’s plan to create a solar park which would use up so much of the precious land space (a slope that has to be terraced) that I had plans to create garden spaces. I wish you were closer to Jamaica so I could actually see the agrivoltaics in person. Thanks again for this video!

There are also new solar panels that allow the wave lengths that plants need to go mostly through the panel. This would be ideal for greenhouses as they already have the metal frames.

Yes we should, I’m trying to learn as much as I can about it to try it on my farm.

I've been interested in Agrivoltaics for the past 2 years and I still learned new things from your video. Thank you Matt! Another excellent video!

Sometimes I wonder what the world would have looked like without innovations like this😊, my advice for everyone, both in the agricultural industry and elsewhere, is to evolve with the world in others so as not to to be left behind

In Pakistan, we have a project underway to put floating solar panels over water dams. Makes the surface area usable, reduces water evaporation and helps keep the panels cool and I don't know the technical details but somehow it also helps improve the efficiency of panels too (in terms of generating energy per unit).

There is another potential winner in this scenario - the farmworker who is less exposed to heat stress and the elements in general. Has there been any work looking at health benefits to workers?

Glad to see a SMART application of solar on land that does not waste the land underneath. The shade the panels produce should be optimized. Parking lots, the building underneath in hot climates

I have same 2018 Model 3 RWD LR...all the same options including FSD. Similar happiness on my end after 5 years(8.1.18 is 5 years). My range declined a little more than you. 100% now = 278 miles, and seems to have stayed there a long time. I went ahead and wrapped my whole car a few months ago to give it new life. It worked. Glossy Cosmic Blue. Love this car!

I saw this a few years back at the Biodome in Arizona as a study, it help ed keep temperatures way lower for the plants in arizona's aggressive heat, and helped growth all around.

Matt, it seems like, with some research, this could be a win-win for both energy and crop production. I saw somewhere that people were installing solar panels over canals. The panels reduced evaporation of the canal water, and kept the underside of the panels cooler, increasing efficiency.

Helped conduct research at the University of Arizona on agrovoltaics! All of the crops under solar panels produced significantly more, because of the reduced heat stress. The greatest difference was the tomatoes, as the control group in the sun didn't fruit at all so the percentage increase in yield was a problematic way to summarize the results as we were dividing by 0.

As an employee of a company that operates of some of GroenLeven's solar park portfolio, seeing a pilot project of theirs so close to home featured in this video was a very pleasant surprise! For anyone who wants to know, there are currently more Dutch shade-crop farmers installing solar on top of their greenhouses (not as a pilot, but as actual revenue generating projects). Driving through the vast greenhouse landscape north of Amsterdam and The Hague you can see many of these popping up, great development to see :)

They should do this at abandoned shopping malls, as well. They have acres of parking lots baking in the sun. You could even put the solar panels on raised frames and park the cars underneath them.

Fish pond covered with a PV installation. PV panels shade the water, reduce evaporation and keep the water cool, while the remaining water evaporation cools the PV panels.

the fact that you promoted the other video by "Just have a think", a competitor, shows that you really care about getting the word out! Plus, your whole manner of presentation shows that you really value and enjoy the service you are providing. If only more people could find their calling like you have ! Thanks, you are inspiring.

Matt, what I love about all your videos, especially ones that discuss the contentious space, it's your willingness to put forward the pro and con argument, all in the same segment. The contest of ideas and the debate in the discussion, is the only thing that will move us forward as a civilisation and society. Thank you for the videos mate 👍

Hello Matt, now that I'm retired, my plan is to give hydroponic farming a try. I was concerned about the world getting hotter. In NJ the past summer was unbearable. I love the thought of combining these 2 products. It is a win-win for everyone. Last week, I went to a farm. I saw that they used grape vines over a chicken coup. They said that this was a win-win for the past few years. Why buy chicken waste ! I found this fascinating . Keep up the great work !

This seems important. For me the measure is the production of two hectares of agrovoltaics, compared with 1ha of traditional agriculture and 1ha of normal photovoltaics. I like the idea that panels can produce electricity and at the same time produce useful shade.

Finally a way to have a solar farm without loosing the land needed for agriculture.

This sort of farming would be greatly beneficial here in Australia where water can be a little scarce at times. Storms come through (hail) and wipe out large area's of fruit.. Grapes, pumpkin, corn, etc etc. Having this type of set up would help protect the plants whilst having other benefits. Water reduction, power production etc.. Fantastic idea.

This can absolutely be tapped into. A very good opportunity for both developed and developing countries. In addition to the point of solar production, wouldn't dry and arid regions with a higher rate and concentration of sun solve this issue? I understand that there is more space in between the panel sheets; although using mono-crystalline panels might keep that production at normal levels.

I love how you wrapped up your thoughts on PV Farming at the end. Really well put on all the challenges faced. Also, Just Have A Think is such a good channel for Climate issues. This may be my favorite episode from you yet Matt!

I can imagine Agrivoltaics making big strides in the future. I feel like right now it's just in its starting phases like many other green energy production ideas, but maybe once more research has been done and the benefits of using agrivoltaics is better demonstrated and documented, it can really take off.

This is the first time I saw your videos and I really like it . IT is clear that it is take much of time to make them by this quality . keep going man !

Big thanks from India. Very informative.

Several decades ago some articles were written about the potential benefits of putting farming equipment on rails in order to not compact the earth under the wheels. At the time I recall the major advantage as being reducing the energy consumption of the equipment while working the soil. Guiding the equipment through the rows between the solar arrays effectively achieves this goal. Furthermore, the structures could provide attachments for a hot shoe or catenary power takeoff to power electric equipment without the need for large battery packs. I believe fuel is a significant cost for farmers. Reducing the energy cost to the farmer could be further justification.

There might be an economical turmoil but there is no doubt that this is still the best time to invest.

Well done and very informative video, thank you Matt! I could imagine using the same effects for a lot of other large open areas, like parking lots, highways, tree nurseries, maybe even parks, playgrounds, sports grounds etc. All of those areas could use same shade n the summer and protection of the elements. Especially in hot and arid regions, the solar roofs could help collect rainwater and over parking lots the sun-generated electricity could power charging stations for EV's parking there.

SoCal is a perfect location. This year for the first time I'm getting electricity credits while running AC whole day long. Thanks to solar panels installed last fall. The fact that LA didn't experience any power outages this year while temperatures hit all time records is a proof of solar panels benefit to the community in general. I will be super excited to see the synergy examples between agriculture and renewable energy production

As an agrivoltaics developer I very much appreciate this content. Super high quality video. Thanks!

More use cases 1. Solar panel over Parking lots 2. Solar panel over Fish tanks, aquaculture 3. Solar panel over agriculture water canals 4. Solar panels over the hydroponic, aquaponic, or aeroponic farm. Use of grow lights may be needed. 5. Solar panel over cattle shelters 6. Solar panel over building structures

Thanks Matt. Very good integration concept.

Great project, I hope that some day most of farms will dual use of land, I have 5 acers of land at my home country (Jordan) and you gave me a great idea, thank you

Bi-facial panels mounted vertically on stilts.. Thank you very much for the idea.. We are embarking on a project integrating solar farm with existing aquaculture. We thought the runaway commodity price has torpedoed our dream.. Once again, thank you very very very very much

This is just the video upload that I needed. I have a roof top garden, and I was looking for space to install a solar plant for my house. Your video has given me a totally new perspective. Now my mind has started working.

Thank you so much for sharing

I love the model of sheep grazing combined with solar panels; I think it could work extremely well with the rotational grazing model: a strip or block of panels will define the boundaries of each paddock in the rotation. It would be important to seed the right kind of forage on the soil under and between the panels, with plenty of legumes like trefoil in the mix. The panels themselves would provide much-needed shade. Ideally, the would supply power to electric perimeter fencing, to keep predators out.

As a homestead and hobby farm, this video is great information for us to branch out. Thanks for your dedication on bringing info to the hungry masses.

When it comes to future technologies this is without a doubt one of the most interesting and accessible channels on KZhead. Thanks for all your work and research Matt

It has started to be used even in chicken houses in large farms in Turkey admin . Hello from izmir 🙂

This looks like an idea that would be practical in my back garden on a very small scale, to shade my vegetables and as a sun shade over the park bench with a pergola for better shade and to run some outdoor lighting and a fan, I don’t know if that number of panels would be enough to run the fridge and freezer in a power outage or if it would be ideal with the snowfall we get here and the tornadoes that seem to go through town every couple years but it’s definitely worth looking into.

We live in the west Texas Desert. I have 36 solar panels shading my house and barn roof. Our garden has shade cloth with 50% shade. We reach temperatures of 115 in the summer. Even cotton crops(very heat tolerant) shut down every afternoon. I really see a use case here. We have huge solar farms here, but they are not environmentally responsible. They don't care. I've interviewed the managers.

Well this is my PhD thesis at Purdue University! Thanks for bringing the awareness

Excellent delivery Matt, great content, subscribed

Thanks for letting us know about this concept. Seems like a great idea. This concept should be tested in rural areas especially in places with hot climates. And if this succeeds, then it should be implemented in different areas. If This concept is used effectively(Identifying suitable Crops wrt to that area), then it will resolve the energy problem of that particular rural area and result in increasing income levels of people of those areas. (Self sustaining concept)

This is something I've been thinking a lot about recently. Really love the concept. It turns something which is a liability and turns it into an asset.

Well done for this video. In France, experiments are being carried out but mentalities and regulatory brakes exist as in your country. Yet the advantages that you describe do exist. Plus one that can make a difference, freeze protection. Our wine production was severely impacted this winter. Except on the test plot in the south-east of France ...

I'm so thankful to find your channel!

Great presentation. Thank you for your time and effort to make this video and share it with us. Greetings from Croatia.

The dual use aspect reminds me of trials with floating solar panels, over water reserves and canals with no transportation, to harvest energy and reduce evaporation in hot climates.

Damned good video! I've been advocating and thinking about this since 1968! Our So. TX farm was often too dry to grow Maiz or grain. I advocated stringing solar panels on wire rope or steel cable to suspend the panels above the ground and allow the tractors to get to the ground. Less water evaporation and regulated solar exposure would maximize production. Plus eventually there would be electric tractors. But who is going to listen to a 14 yr old!

Loved your presentation and explanation of Agrivoltaics. Wow....how I wish I owned land, positive and progressive solutions to current behaviors that have unlimited benefits now and in the future.

great presentation. I have been working yard scale pv projects using solar generated power. watching your video has given me new ideas

Nice presentation! I can think of many high-value crops that could be grown this way - Strawberries, blueberries, asparagus, blackberries, table grapes (the equipment to harvest wine grapes is BIG, probably wouldn't work well), celery, broccoli, cauliflower. In my area (Upstate NY - Finger lakes area) we use very little irrigation and have many overcast days, so no great savings on irrigation water and probably reduced power generation from solar panels on many days. The break even point on this plan would be to produce enough income from power generation to negate the loss of income from farming activities PLUS the cost of hardware installation PLUS the maintenance costs. I'm sure that with the projected growth of electric cars over the next few years we will need expanded power generation everywhere, and the cost of electricity will increase with demand. I would love to see a pilot project in this area to determine the feasibility of this system. Of course any income generated from solar panels on dedicated farm land would have to be considered as farm income.

I so appreciate this. Thank you. I wish California would consider agrivoltaics. It would save water we don't have enough, have too much of the sun, and the electricity we always run out of. Please keep up the good work.

Matt I love your videos and I want to adopt some of these projects on the land that I’m buying. My passion is wildflowers in UK. I have created many wildflower community projects in Cheshire and I have never faced so many problems with local councils. So much in fact that I became a Gorilla gardener who did highly illegal activities such as scattering seeds and making the community nicer. This is highly frowned upon!!!

I watch your channel and 'Just have a think' religiously...they're both so good.

Excellent video, Matt! I run a few subs on Reddit and have been sharing your vids over there. I also teach people how to install small off grid solar and build sustainable and affordable housing.

I work at a CAFO that is less than a 1/4 mile from a electric transmission line. I think it would be a win win to install solar above the pens. It would make some shade for the cattle, and maybe offset our methane production somewhat. The cattle currently suffer during the summer with zero shade. Solar panels above the feedlot pens would give a duel use to the same area of land without any sacrifice.

One thing rarely mentioned is that not only can plants get light saturated, PVs can convert 10x-20x the received light. If the plants are then saturated by chlorophyll-optimized LED grow lamps, the PV density could be raised to the same as a normal solar farm. The reduced water usage also reduces the amount of nitrate fertilizer needed, as less gets washed away by irrigation.

For more than a year I have had this idea of combining a track that circles in time with solar movement (similar to circlular sprinklers of industrial farms) with fish/plant hydroponics below them slightly offset. Still requires lots of maths that I am too time crunched to do, and it wouldn't necessarily "make" extra electricity. But my dream is for them to be single kits that can be air dropped into extreme rural areas. Where they make enough electricity to maintain all of the fish and plant needs; along with the energy to move the rotating solar panels. A triple combo solar, vegetation and fish farming operation that doesn't need anything beyond water and maintenance. Go ahead and take the idea, I won't ever get around to designing or patenting it. I only ask that you actually try and make the airdrop thing a thing, too. -Your Friendly Neighborhood Druid

YES!!! Thank you so much for doing this video. I’m studying Agrivoltaics in my Master’s program right now. I’m looking at geographical political economy under agrivoltaic energy transitions. I’ve found thus far the people-component of permitting agrovoltaics is extremely challenging, but do-able!!

Thankyou, it makes emminent sense. There are translucent solar panels that let through about 30% of incident light, similar to greenhouse glazing.

Do you have more information about this farm in the Netherlands? I’d like to know where these solar panels are produced? Are they locally made in the Netherlands?

Will try this in my wife's hometown in Thailand could be a gamechanger for the community.

Some things just make sense, and this guy certainly had an eye for spotting them. And he has the talent to create well constructed well researched, informative videos.

Well done and very informative video, thank you Matt!

I really like this idea. So many home gardeners in Texas with a month of 100+ temps and humidity below 30% lost their gardens, or had poor harvesting, except for those providing 30-50% shade cloth over the garden area. I use natural shade for my garden, which gets about 5 hours direct sunlight, and it does great every year. Do have one video showing it. Natural shading for part of a day, if one has it to east and west sides, can make gardening a lot easier, otherwise current practice is buying shade cloth.

I think it’s pretty cool that you can farm crops and also energy on same spot.. I’ve seen similar principles but in desert.. it could be solution for greening deserts 🌵

Great stuff Matt. I’ve seen solar arrays installed over parking lots. They are about 20-30 ft above the pavement and provide shelter from sun and rain/hail. One of the best uses I have seen and used.

I found this one especially fascinating. Thank you.

This is a brilliant initiative. If governments subsidise solar panels used for agrivoltaics it could provide incredible benefits as a way to use agriculture and energy production from the same limited space, and farmers can clearly benefit from allowing agrivoltaics if they match specific crops to their solar panel use and local environment. With land for agriculture being so in need, this could really solve two issues at once. Furthermore, with our climate getting hotter, solar panels could be used strategically (placed very high up) to shade and conserve water use by trees or even parts of forests. With wide and sturdy poles, they could also be used to shade these large grazing animals too. There are some great applications here.

This is absolutely fascinating! I know the focus is on large-scale farming and energy gathering. However, I can't help but wonder if this couldn't be even more beneficial if the scale was minimized to households, city gardens, and the developing world! Better and more efficient land use is always positive and would be fantastic in areas where the urban spread is problematic, there are "food desserts', or extreme impacts on land uses due to infrastructure development and expansion.

We should use the right tools for the result we are looking to obtain. In this case study, it was a better crop yield and lower operational cost to the farm on top of generating some energy where it would have generated none before. This model may not fit everything so it doesn't have to be used everywhere. It should be used where it makes sense. That said, I personally, think it's a great use of space to maximize its productivity.

I have a 100 acre farm in rural Arkansas. I would love for one of these companies to build a demonstrator green house here to show the rest of the nation how useful and beneficial these systems are, not only for food production, but for powering communities, as well.

I'm very excited by Agrivoltaics .. I can think of several food crops here in north central California that could benefit from crop protection and the added revenue of the solar array.

That farm with the raspberries really nailed it

I think this is so important and impressive that it shouldn't matter if you have to make small sacrifices. It's especially easy if the farmer owns the solar panel or has a fixed interest rate. But even for the raspberry farmer who needed a weather shield anyway it is a benefit. I think a lot of time and thought should be put into the building of these but that they are so efficient for land use its actually crazy. Imagine doing this on city rooftop greenhouses on every building sturdy enough for it.

great to see you giving dave borlach a shout- you two between have pretty well got the whole field covered.

What an awesome concept. Matt, thanks for sharing.

I love this system. We should definitely be doing it wherever and whenever possible. Governments need to give this the support it needs and chop through that red tape.

i just gotta say i love you man, i dig every single one of your videos and its a pleasure to see you grow. Peace Edited after watching video: and i forgot to say one of things i like is the way your present it: straight to the point, fitting a 45min documentary in a 15min format with the added je ne sait quoi and fun included. thanks, ill have some more of that!

Wow! For the crops that benefit from the shade? No doubt. What an amazing concept.

Great coverage. I designed farms like these over 8 years ago wish I had the capital to get plans off the ground.

In New Zealand, this technology is being used on five solar farms mainly in the country's North Island that are operated by Lodestone Energy. The company lease land from local farmers who still can use the land for farming. It is a 'win win' for the farmer, as they get income from the farm and from the solar farm lease.

I wonder if they have rain water harvesting on these arrays of panels, would seem like another efficiency boost?

most excellent video. I am doing my best to share these stories on linkedin with solar professionals who just seem to be clueless about vertical bifacial panels and agrivoltaics

As someone who lives in a NIMBY county, I can tell you a little about the community outrage that you mentioned in <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="518">8:38</a>. In nearby counties, lots of farmers took energy company deals to install wind turbines in their fields, with the promise of monthly 'rent' to offset the lost crops and inconvenience. These farmers were supportive of renewables, since there was no big reason to doubt them. However, over the years, the energy companies would sell the windmills to each other every few years, along with 'renegotiations' of the monthly rent, which, for farmers who don't have teams of attorneys or knowledge of corporate law bs, means inexplicable drops in money but the same inconvenience. Over the lifetime of the windmills, the benefits of the windmills dropped from something enticing (both from an environmentalist perspective and from a business one) to only an annoyance. And the cherry on top? Once the windmills had passed their useful lifetime, the companies just left them in the fields, since taking them down is expensive and what can a farmer without lawyers do? There's also the sound and sight of massive windmills, which is offensive to people who enjoy the quiet and serene landscape of the midwest. A farmer who owns the field next to your house can sell land for a windmill practically in your backyard, and there's nothing you can do about it. City people might not get this part, since cities are loud anyway and you're used to it, but in the country, we're used to nothing but the sounds of the birds, insects, and coyotes. The solar systems sound interesting, and maybe feasible for farmers growing raspberries, but there aren't really any of those in the midwest. And I can tell you that <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="156">2:36</a> made me nervous, because if you let your attention in the tractor drift for three seconds, you're breaking thousands of dollars worth of equipment that you don't know how to repair. Self-guided tractors aren't perfect. Let me know if there's something I missed, and if you want to have a healthy discussion. I'm happy to reply back to any earnest questions about farm life or about possible options that would work. I'm probably going to end up the owner of a lot of farmland sometime in my life, and I'd love to find some feasible way of producing renewable energy.

Another regenerative farm/energy synergy would be small scale pumped hydro. A lot of farmers already have solar here in germany and quite a few have irrigation ponds. If it werent for regulations it would be super easy to connect two irrigation ponds at different elevation and store some of the excess energy for nighttime use. If its a big farm with enough land a bigger irrigation pond could supply the neigbours with power as well. Basically paying the farmer for storage could create good effects for village sized micro grids.

Thanks for coming up with this video

This is so great what you can do with the PV. I work as a climate change person for a community. They want to build a PV plant soon. After what I have seen I'd highly adovocate this. Maybe local farmers can be motivated to do engage in PV-agriculture. But in Germany they also want to put PV on bogs. Since they are so rare in our anthropocene I would loathe using bogs for PV.

A very smart idea! Another problem I think you missed would be how to connect these farms to the energy grid. It is unfortunately so that you cannot introduce a large amount of energy to a certain area of the grid if no-one will use it, or the grid is not sophisticated enough to handle the amount of electricity. Sadly, the electricity grid out in rural areas are often not well developed and this development introduces a further cost to the agrivoltaic system :(