Articles
Assessing the benefits and limitations of a dynamic agrivoltaic greenhouse for crop protection and yield optimization in a changing climate
Article number
1428_14
Pages
109 – 116
Language
English
Abstract
As climate change continues to intensify, protecting crops from excessive radiation and heatwaves has become increasingly important.
Techniques such as shading tarp or bleaching are used to protect crops, but they require a significant workforce and are often left in place throughout the entire growing season.
To address this issue, Sun’Agri has developed an agrivoltaic greenhouse with solar panels above the greenhouse that can be steered to shade crops or let the light pass according to crop needs.
The greenhouse for this study is located in the south-west of France and composed of nine asymmetric chapels.
The north part of the greenhouse is covered, in between chapels, by rows of solar panels that can be individually steered.
The south half of the greenhouse serves as a control zone and has a shading tarp which can be deployed.
The experiment was carried between 2021 and 2023 on organic tomatoes, eggplants, and cucumbers.
Despite a similar fruit weight, number of flowers per cluster and plant mortality and even a higher number of clusters, yields for tomatoes under solar panels were reduced by 20% in 2021 and 2022 due to solar panels whereas they exhibited a slightly higher yield in 2023. Yields were similar between control and agrivoltaic eggplants in 2021 and 2023. In contrast, cucumber yields were 20% higher under panels in 2023, despite similar yield components between treatments.
Additionally, the yield was 50% higher under panels for eggplants in 2022 and cucumbers in 2021 and 2022 due to pest-related defoliation in control plants, which reduced their shoot and leaf dry mass and increased plant mortality.
In contrast, the plants under panels experienced lower pest pressure.
Further experiments are expected in 2024 to better understand the performance of these three crops in agrivoltaic greenhouses and establish a link between shading and pest pressure.
Techniques such as shading tarp or bleaching are used to protect crops, but they require a significant workforce and are often left in place throughout the entire growing season.
To address this issue, Sun’Agri has developed an agrivoltaic greenhouse with solar panels above the greenhouse that can be steered to shade crops or let the light pass according to crop needs.
The greenhouse for this study is located in the south-west of France and composed of nine asymmetric chapels.
The north part of the greenhouse is covered, in between chapels, by rows of solar panels that can be individually steered.
The south half of the greenhouse serves as a control zone and has a shading tarp which can be deployed.
The experiment was carried between 2021 and 2023 on organic tomatoes, eggplants, and cucumbers.
Despite a similar fruit weight, number of flowers per cluster and plant mortality and even a higher number of clusters, yields for tomatoes under solar panels were reduced by 20% in 2021 and 2022 due to solar panels whereas they exhibited a slightly higher yield in 2023. Yields were similar between control and agrivoltaic eggplants in 2021 and 2023. In contrast, cucumber yields were 20% higher under panels in 2023, despite similar yield components between treatments.
Additionally, the yield was 50% higher under panels for eggplants in 2022 and cucumbers in 2021 and 2022 due to pest-related defoliation in control plants, which reduced their shoot and leaf dry mass and increased plant mortality.
In contrast, the plants under panels experienced lower pest pressure.
Further experiments are expected in 2024 to better understand the performance of these three crops in agrivoltaic greenhouses and establish a link between shading and pest pressure.
Authors
S. Persello, G. Lopez, J. Chopard, P. Juillion, V. Hitte, Y. Elamri, R. Grizou, F. Thiery, D. Fumey
Keywords
dynamic solar panels, shading, climate hazard, harvest, pest pressure
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