Translator: Emma Stuart Reviewer: Robert Tucker
We have a dilemma.
The earth’s population continues to grow.
The UN expects that, in 2050,
there will be more than 9.7 billion people on this planet.
And we all have needs which require land to be met.
At once, we need land to produce our food;
we need land to produce our energy,
from solar farms, for example;
and, of course, we all have to live somewhere.
These three sectors stand in competitionto to each other,
and not only to each other,
but also against the natural ecosystems that we still have on this planet.
It is above all beween agriculture and energy production
that this competition for land has manifested itself in recent years.
In many places, solar farms are replacing agricultural activities.
And there is yet another development:
as a result of climate change, severe weather events are increasing.
We experience more drought, more arid conditions,
but also more hail and heavy rainfall.
And what suffers the most from these changes?
That's agriculture.
Crop failures burden it financially.
Each year in Germany, businesses are shuttered.
To get past this dilemma, we must all work together,
to give agriculture a future outlook again,
to create a more resilient and climate-neutral agriculture.
And that's exactly why I'm here this evening.
I want to talk about one approach: agrivoltaics.
There you have agriculture below,
and at a height of 3 to 5 metres,
or even higher,
so agricultural machinery can pass beneath it,
you have the photovoltaic modules.
The idea is actually pretty simple:
agriculture, solar installation,
both are brought together in the same space.
Of course, they must be made to accommodate one another.
Light management is very important,
since plants need light to grow.
To let enough light through,
the photovoltaic modules need to be set somewhat further apart.
Like that, you generate a little less electricity,
compared to solar panel only sites,
but nonetheless, you still get about 80% of the electric power,
with, of course, in addition, the agricultural yields.
Also there, we can say that, on average, we get 80% of the agricultural yields,
so that together with the 80% electricity yield,
we get a land use efficiency of 160%,
and, depending on the system,
depending on the plants or crop, even more.
So, the land use is doubled.
We at Fraunhofer ISE have also tested
how these plants would grow under an agrivoltaic installation.
That's why we built this system.
It's in the Heggelbach farm community,
and was built in 2016 as part of the APV-RESOLA research project.
Over three years, we have examined
how plants grow next to and under the installation,.
with astonishing results.
Here you see a chart, comparing the yields for 2017 and 2018
for four crops: winter wheat, potatoes, celery, and trefoil-grass.
2017, here in blue, there was an about 20% lower yield.
So, you still have 80% of the agricultural yields,
in addition, of course, to the electricity yield.
You may remember that the year 2018 was a particularly hot and dry year.
And in that year, we actually had higher yields under the array
than next to the array.
This is because there are synergies between the plants and the array.
With shade, the microclimate changes.
The ground remains moister,
cooler on hot summer days under the arrays,
and warmer at night.
Therefore, in arid, that is, especially dry and hot, regions.
you can even increase yields with agrivoltaics.
And agrivoltaics not only shelters against dryness or drought,
but also against heavy rains and hail.
Here, for example, in an installation in Holland,
the hail-protection nets for convential raspberry cultivation
were replaced with agrivoltaic panels.
Now, so much for the plants,
what's the position with the electricty?
The average cost of electricity from an agrivoltaic system
is between 6 and 8 cents per kilowatt hour,
and is, therefore, up to 20% cheaper
than from the typical roof systems we are familiar with.
Here you can see a power usage diagram for the Heggelbach farm community
for a summer day from midnight to midnight.
And you see, between midnight and 7 a.m., power had to be drawn from the grid.
From 7 a.m. right through to 6 or 7 p.m., however,
their own demand was completely met by the array.
You see that, here, in yellow.
And, in green, we see much more electricity was produced in surplus,
when it is fed into the grid.
You can market it directly to your neighbors,
or, with an integrated energy storage system, use it yourself,
whether it's battery storage,
or the surplus electricity is used to produce hydrogen,
which can then be used to power farm machinery.
There are many other ways to use the electricity,
and together, they all help keep the entire farm climate-neutral.
Every plant is different.
Every farm is different.
In fact, each agrivoltaic system
can be set up differently and be adapted well as required.
For example, you see here a vertical array.
Here, it is combined with livestock farming,
and in windy areas,
vertical arrays can function as windbreaks.
You may be asking yourselves, "That's a vertical installation,
it isn’t oriented towards the sun,
does it produce enough electricity?""
In fact, yes, thanks to a technical innovation: double-sided modules,
where, on a solar panel,
both the front and back function as solar cell.
Double-sided modules are very popular in agrivoltaic applications.
Another cool technical innovation: the collection of rainwater.
This rainwater can be harvested together with the electricity,
and used to help during dry spells.
This approach is currently being explored by Fraunhofer ISE in Gambia and Mali.
Well, this technology sounds really cool ...
Why isn't it to be seen all over the place?
In fact, just in the last 10 years,
the solar sector has changed a lot, making agrivoltaics possible.
However, some bureaucratic hurdles still exist within the legislation..d
This is one reason why we are working with Fraunhofer ISE
and DIN, the German stnadards body,
to develop a standard for agrivoltaics.
This has, in fact, been online since Friday.
Agrivoltaics is not only practised in Germany.
China is a pioneer and has installed more than two gigawatts.
In Japan, the concept of solar-sharing is also very well known.
And in France, thy're looking at it for winegrowing..
I would like to close by summarizing the advantages of agrivoltaics.
First, crop protection
resulting from the synergy between the plants and the installation.
Secondly, soil protection
as a result of an improved microclimate under the installation.
Thirdly, minimization of land area used through the double usage of the land.
Of course, the generation of electricity,
which can provide an extra source of income for the agricultural sector,
and helps to decentralize energy supply.
Most recently, water management as well.
All in all, agrivoltaics makes a valid contribution towards climate protection.
I have even looked at agrivoltaics
with regard to the global Sustainabl Development Goals,
and it seems to me there are at least ten
where I would say agrivoltaics is bringing us in the right direction.
Among them: the development of renewable energy;
the future prospects of agriculture, not forgetting the fight against hunger;
and the responsible use of our resources.
To achieve our climate goals in Germany,
we must, in the next 30 years,
increase our current indtalled solar capacity
by, at least, a factor of ten.
That is an enormous task,
and agrivoltaics will hopefully do its bit.
The potential is undoubtedly there,
and arable land suitable for the deployment of this technology
is more than sufficiently available.
And, who knows,
maybe in a few years, our electricity will comefrom an agrivoltaic installation.
That is then your own very special contribution
to curbing the competiton for land,
and to building a resilient and climate-neutral agriculture.
Thank you.