[HN Gopher] Growing crops under solar panels
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Growing crops under solar panels
Author : lxm
Score : 48 points
Date : 2023-03-10 20:45 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.fastcompany.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.fastcompany.com)
| throwuwu wrote:
| I'm no farmer but wouldn't putting a whole bunch of stuff in a
| field make it difficult to drive a tractor through it? Like have
| you seen the size of modern tractors? These panels will need to
| be 20ft in the air with support posts really far apart to
| accommodate seed drills and sprayers and other equipment that the
| tractor pulls behind it.
| [deleted]
| nhumrich wrote:
| Yes, I think a single picture of a farm setup this way would
| have increased the value of this article quite a bit.
| yazaddaruvala wrote:
| This[0] is a berry farm I was just at. As you can see it's
| already covered to protect from extra sun. No tractor could
| fit anyways.
|
| This[1] is one version of agrovoltaics. The solar panels act
| like window blinds. They can be configured to follow the sun
| but also can be configured to "provide optimal shade/cooling
| throughout the day".
|
| [0] https://images.app.goo.gl/mSbtJjtSQRukBQqK6
|
| [1] https://images.app.goo.gl/9kakPW8uRHLGp3yJA
| tstrimple wrote:
| Most of the examples I've seen are small scale hand pick
| farming. But there is nothing about 20' spans that are outside
| our technical abilities today. This seems like a rather small
| obstacle to overcome. Of course this still says nothing about
| the economic feasibility or impacts.
|
| Thinking more about it, you wouldn't even need 20' spans. You'd
| have articulating struts coming off of a central point between
| the rows. Panels can be adjusted out of the way of equipment
| when it needs to pass through if it is interfering.
| fencepost wrote:
| To some extent that falls into the category of "fiddly
| details." Solar panels are probably not the best choice for use
| alongside bulk harvested crops like corn, wheat, soybeans and
| even potatoes, but an awful lot of "produce" crops are
| harvested by hand.
|
| The reason I say "fiddly details" is because questions like
| "what's the best spacing between rows of panels" and "do I
| plant under the panels or just between rows" can be decided as
| people look into available equipment, land prices, crop
| variation and flexibility, etc.
| Jiro wrote:
| Outside of weird edge cases (like mushrooms), how does this work
| when the plants use the sunlight and so do the solar panels?
| martyvis wrote:
| There are plenty of places in the garden around my home that
| either are always shaded or are only in full sun for a few
| hours a day. Yet there isn't one spot (except under my house)
| where nothing grows. Suitable spacing, height and angle of
| panels (which could adjust during the day) and choice of crop
| all would come into the mix of what would work.
| crooked-v wrote:
| I really don't get why people keep coming up with all these
| elaborate plans to mix solar panels with other stuff that's in
| active use, instead of just putting fields of them out in non-
| endangered desert elevated enough off the ground that they won't
| actively interfere with local animals.
| pornel wrote:
| Long-distance energy transmission may be technically or
| politically harder, or just someone else's problem.
|
| If you're a farmer and already own the land, that's what you
| can do. A combination of the two land uses might be more
| profitable or less financially volatile than either one alone.
| thethethethe wrote:
| Why would we destroy pristine desert, which is rapidly
| disappearing, when we could cover land that has already been
| disturbed, like parking lots, building roofs, and farmland?
| Deserts are important ecosystems regardless of their immediate
| utility to industrial society
| debacle wrote:
| This idea is being pushed hard right now. I see it everywhere.
|
| You can't grow most crops under solar panels. And the crops you
| can grow will probably have a lower yield.
|
| This is an idea that's meant to push replacing farmland with
| solar arrays. I don't necessarily think that's a bad idea for low
| yield soils, but in my area they are trying to replace high-yield
| soils (former orchards, vineyards, market gardens) with solar
| arrays. It doesn't make sense.
|
| What would make sense is arrays that are semi-portable that can
| be used for re-establishing topsoil. With the right crops, good
| topsoil can be reestablished in as little as 5-10 years.
| jandrese wrote:
| I think the idea is to use this on the handful of crops that
| prefer the shade. Think small artisanal alfalfa farms with
| minimal mechanization.
|
| But all in all I agree that it adds considerable complication
| for little gain. At least in the US we are in zero danger of
| installing so many solar panels that there is not enough acres
| left for food. That kind of concern is orders of magnitude away
| from reality. Especially if you start displacing corn-for-
| ethanol acres with solar panels used to charge electric
| vehicles. In that case you actually increase the available
| acreage for food crops because the solar panels are so much
| more efficient than corn ethanol.
| fencepost wrote:
| Not just alfalfa, but crops where what's eaten is the stems,
| leaves and other parts of the plant more than the
| fruits/seeds. Leafy greens, some root vegetables both starchy
| and wet, asparagus, some brassicas, etc. Not nearly as broad
| a list as full sun, but I'm also sure there are a lot of
| things being grown in southern California now that needed a
| lot of breeding to deal with as much sun as they get there.
| yazaddaruvala wrote:
| I just added this comment below:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35101717
|
| A lot of farming NEEDs sun protection for better yields.
| Currently farms that don't have sun protection over compensate
| by over watering (also could reduce yields).
|
| Not to say every farm should have solar panels but it's very
| likely a double digit percentage of farm land would benefit
| from agrovoltaics.
| cwkoss wrote:
| I'd imagine a significant majority of mass-produced lettuce
| is grown with some sort of shading to prevent bolting.
| eloff wrote:
| Exactly. This idea is so dumb, it reminds me of solar powered
| roads or solar power on the roof of your car.
|
| There's no shortage of land out there that can't be used for
| agriculture. The American southwest is full of empty land that
| just happens to be very sunny. There's no need to comprise the
| productivity of farms and solar farms alike to try and squeeze
| them into the same space. Wind turbines on the other hand can
| work beats they don't get in the way as much, especially on
| grazing land.
| nicoburns wrote:
| > There's no shortage of land out there that can't be used
| for agriculture. The American southwest...
|
| Maybe not in the US, but in more populated parts of the world
| there very much is a shortage of land of any kind.
| martyvis wrote:
| The article says that having crops under panels might help
| them through cooling. Options are worth investigating if it
| makes the whole system more viable.
| fencepost wrote:
| There are plenty of crops that grow well in or even prefer
| partially shaded conditions, particularly if there's a
| significant amount of reflected light as well as there likely
| would be around a solar array.
| hahamrfunnyguy wrote:
| True, however I think the point is to put more shade tolerant
| crops under the panels. A lot of the crops we grow are not
| grown directly for human consumption.
|
| Consider the corn grown for the production of ethanol: why not
| just harvest the energy directly with solar panels there and
| grow lettuce or carrots? It would be good to explore other uses
| for the space as well, like using the panels as shade or cover
| for livestock.
| eulenteufel wrote:
| The website blocked my IP from reading the article because it
| found my uMatrix suspicious. Just tell me to disable it or deny
| access to the site. No need to lock out people who like to decide
| where their computer connects to. That is a bit petty.
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