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A research team in Spain has developed a photovoltaic system design for super-intensive olive groves. Scientists said the system must ensure high levels of transparency to avoid a negative impact on olive yields.
A research team from the University of Jaén in Spain has designed a new agrivoltaic system configuration for applications in existing olive groves in the Mediterranean region.
The system consists of an aerial installation equipped with glass photovoltaic modules composed of multiple photovoltaic cells sandwiched within them, which, according to the researchers, guarantees a high level of transparency. The modules have an inclination angle of 30 degrees, are facing south and are installed on an elevated canopy located 4 m above the olive trees with an average height of 2 m.
The olive grove has a high planting density with a distance of 3.5 m between rows of trees and 1.5 m between individual trees. The panels are installed with a distance between rows of 1.7 m to avoid shadows. “This particular design allows the harvesting machine, which can have a maximum height of 3.5 m, to pass over the olive trees,” the academics explained.
The scientists said the system must ensure high levels of transparency to avoid a negative impact on olive yields. “Transparency, in this context, refers to the proportional area of ??the module that is unoccupied by photovoltaic cells,” they explained. “This value is then multiplied by the optical transmittance of the glass to calculate the overall transparency of the module.”
Through a series of simulations, the research team evaluated the systems transparency levels for three different olive cultivars and nine representative olive growing locations. It considered indicators such as photovoltaic capacity, energy generation, CO2 emissions avoided and job creation.
The analysis showed that transparency levels vary between 0.57 and 0.71, and that lower values ??can be observed in places with higher solar radiation such as Egypt and Tunisia.
“Optimizing the model considering only the months corresponding to the vegetative cycle of the olive tree can reduce the required transparency, thus increasing the installed photovoltaic capacity by up to 3.5%,” add the academics, highlighting that in those locations where solar radiation incident on winter is lower, transparency decreases more compared to the annual average and to other places with a more uniform radiation distribution throughout the year, such as Egypt or Morocco.
They presented the system in the study “ Potential of agrivoltaics systems into olive groves in the Mediterranean region ,” published in Applied Energy .
“Future work should evaluate the impact of ultraviolet (UV) light suppression on olive tree growth when photovoltaic modules are installed on olive trees, as the glass encapsulant absorbs this specific portion of the solar spectrum,” they concluded. |
