Can we grow crops under solar panels instead of trees?

Traditionally, agricultural and agroforestry systems used multilayered plantings by, for example, cultivating shade-tolerant crops such as coffee under bananas. Now, with growing demand for clean energy but a paucity of empty land, researchers are exploring how to grow crops under raised solar panels (photovoltaics) instead of trees.

Can solar panels shade large crop lands?

And while the grass under your trampoline grows by itself, researchers like me in the field of solar photovoltaic technology — made up of solar cells that convert sunlight directly into electricity — have been working on shading large crop lands with solar panels — on purpose.

Can Broccoli grow under photovoltaic panels?

Researchers in South Korea have been growing broccoli underneath photovoltaic panels. The panels are positioned 2-3 metres off the ground and sit at an angle of 30 degrees, providing shade and offering crops protection from the weather.

Which crops can be grown under PV panels?

Tomato, lettuce, pepper, cucumbers and strawberries are the most studied crops under PV panels (Fig. 5). The recent literatures for applications of selective shading systems on the aforementioned crops and others plants are reviewed in the following sections.

Does PV shading affect horticulture crop cultivation?

This mini review has reported experimental studies about the effect of PV shading on horticulture crop cultivation and a correlation between the growth parameters and the characteristics of PV installation, in terms of degree of roof coverage has been found.

Can agrivoltaic systems be combined with solar PV?

Associating food crops and solar PVon the same land area which is referred as agrivoltaic systems (also denoted as Agrophotovoltaics, APV) (Dinesh and Pearce 2016; Santra et al. 2017) is among the most developing techniques in agriculture that attract significant researches attention in the past ten years (Fig. 1 a).