his work simulates the behavior of solar irradiance and its interaction with photovoltaic panels and the crop, as well as possible shading, in a photovoltaic plant to study its potential reconversion into an agrivoltaic installation.
Tag Archive for: social science research
This article uses the food–energy–water (FEW) nexus framework to delineate three different perspectives of solar energy development on farmland. The first two perspectives fit into the FEW nexus language of “trade-offs” and “synergies” respectively, arguing that solar energy development either conflicts with agricultural land use and food security or, alternatively, that the two land uses can be co-located appropriately to create agrivoltaic systems. The third perspective is a compromise, arguing that solar energy preserves farmland for future agricultural use.
Understanding circularity and landscape experience in agrivoltaics contributes to enabling agriculture transitions and increasing public acceptance. This study examines these topics in built agrivoltaic projects reported in scientific literature, and provides recommendations for researchers, farmers, and policy makers to pay more attention to landscape experience while constructing agrivoltaic sites.
Understanding the basis on which stakeholders judge and decide on such innovations is crucial to understanding perception and adoption, especially when the potential value of an innovation is not solely on an individual level but also on a societal level. Researchers combine two theoretical lenses, the innovation diffusion theory for an individual and the social acceptance perspective for a societal lens. Through 27 semi-structured stakeholder interviews, we explore perceptions of agrivoltaics by different stakeholder types in three countries (Germany, Belgium, and Denmark) and different agrivoltaics system designs (vertical, horizontal, and as replacement of cover installations).
In this project, researchers placed sheep on a college campus in an effort to examine the social benefits of grazing lawnscape management. The project sought to determine if the presence of the sheep decreased stress levels among the student body; if sheep grazing events created opportunities for education about well-being and engagement with the community; and if the sheep grazing contributed to the identity of the college campus. The researchers found that the presence of the sheep provided temporary, in-the-moment stress relief for students, and the events fostered a sense of community and placemaking. Sheep grazing did not appear to have an impact on the overall campus identity.
In the context of accelerated climate crisis this article investigates the energetic-political possibilities of solar energy in the Czech Republic. In the absence of solar cooperatives, the article examines residential PV installations and a ground-mounted solar mono-plantation as a terrain for possible commoning. It proposes technoecologies as a framework and tool to not only focus on what solar infrastructure brings together, but also what is left out or disarticulated in specific arrangements but can be seen as infrastructure’s productive “limits” that entail possibilities for differential inclusion, regeneration, and care. Ethnographic technoecological analysis shows how unexpected plant growth within the plantation points to multispecies refuges transforming the electric monoculture, and how electrical rewiring could connect PV arrays to households in multiple occupancy buildings (paneláky) in ways that enable new forms of sharing and joyful squandering of electricity in times of energy abundance.
The study revealed that grazing sheep on solar sites is a cost-effective method to control on-site vegetation and prevent panel shading. At no time in the growing season did vegetation shade the panels. Maintenance was less labor-intensive than traditional landscaping services and, thus, less expensive. The grazing trial at the Musgrave solar site was a full success for the site owners and operators, as well as the sheep farmer.
The aim of this study was to compare economic and agricultural benefits and challenges of traditional land management strategies (mowing, string trimming) with rotationally grazed sheep on solar sites. Sheep were grazed between May and November 2018 to obtain agronomic and economic data, as well as to gather knowledge of the feasibility of grazing sheep on solar sites.
This paper addresses the concern that despite the technical feasibility of renewable energy technologies and their contribution to climate-friendly power production, public opposition can be a hurdle for new installations of renewable energy installations, including agrivoltaic operations. This study assesses citizens’ perceptions of the Agrophotovoltaics (APV) technology by applying the Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) concept.
In the workshop conducted in this paper, citizens’ perception on APV before building the first pilot plant was investigated to analyze relevant aspects for the innovation process and its framework at an early stage of the technology development process. This paper describes the impact of APV on landscape, biodiversity, economy, and on the requirements for regulatory framework.
The purpose of this guide is to help Michigan communities meet the challenge of becoming solar- ready by addressing SES within their planning policies and zoning regulations. This document illustrates how various scales and configurations of photovoltaic SES fit into landscape patterns ranging between rural, suburban, and urban. This guide will aid in community development and guidance related to public policy decisions related to solar energy development, which often includes agrivoltaic operations and development as well.
This study includes discussion on key benefits, tensions, and paradigms influencing farmers and farming communities’ decisions to host utility-scale solar generation. The first goal of this study is to develop a conceptual map of stakeholder interaction(s) around utility-scale solar deployment on agricultural lands. The second goal includes the critique of agrivoltaic solutions that fail to consider stakeholder priorities as technological fixes.
Scientists and engineers have recommended agrivoltaics to solve conflicts between land use for energy versus agriculture. The study discusses and focuses on stakeholder perceptions and paradigms about using agricultural land, particularly prime farmland. The study covers the question of how does the existing context of energy and agricultural systems affect solar siting, and how are stakeholders interacting to coproduce decisions?
The results of this study provide a conceptual map of stakeholder interaction on solar development on agricultural lands and argues that agrivoltaics are currently treated as a “technological fix.”
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Harvesting the Sun, the Agrisolar Short Film, is Available Now!March 20, 2024 - 5:52 pm
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