Spinach and sheep are showing us that solar farms aren’t solely for green energy | 24CA News

New work from the University of Alberta is seeking to maximize the inexperienced power that comes from the province’s photo voltaic farms.

The observe is named agrivoltaics — inserting crops beneath photo voltaic panels, successfully doubling down on the effectivity of a booming photo voltaic power sector. In this case, the crop is spinach.

“In several ways it’s a win-win,” mentioned soil scientist Guillermo Hernandez Ramirez, a professor within the U of A’s school of  agricultural, life and environmental sciences.

Solar farms require a major quantity of land, a problem that has drawn criticism from the agricultural neighborhood and from some opponents of renewable power initiatives.

EPCOR’s kīsikāw pīsim photo voltaic farm covers 21 hectares in southwest Edmonton. On the opposite finish of the dimensions is the Travers Solar Project in Lomond, Alta. It spreads throughout 1,350 hectares and is at the moment the most important in Canada.

The U of A pilot venture, run by Hernandez Ramirez and analysis intern Camila Quiroz, was a 25-day laboratory check to see if photo voltaic farms can do double responsibility.

Research was performed in a progress chamber that in contrast the expansion of spinach in three circumstances: beneath a skinny photo voltaic panel, beneath a thick photo voltaic panel, and uncovered.

Spinach vegetation beneath photo voltaic panels consumed as much as 17 per cent much less water — and although their progress was slower, the plant’s total well being wasn’t affected.

And whereas they grew, the vegetation stored the realm beneath the panels cool, which improved the photo voltaic panels’ effectivity.

“There is a synergy here,” mentioned Hernandez Ramirez. 

It’s about “trying to use the space in a more efficient way,” he mentioned. “We are able to combine the two efforts, the challenge of energy transition and the challenge of food security.”

‘Growing meals, fibres and fertilizer’

Spinach is not the one factor that may thrive on a photo voltaic farm. 

In 2012, Janna Greir and her husband Ryan began Whispering Cedars Ranch close to Strathmore, Alta. Last yr they moved 450 sheep to a graze at Strathmore Solar, a 130-hectare venture run by Edmonton-based Capital Power.

The flock returned to the photo voltaic farm in May. The sheep will likely be there till October, providing reasonably priced and efficient garden upkeep. In flip, the photo voltaic panels will give the animals shade whereas they graze.

“We’re growing food, fibres and fertilizer underneath green energy. You don’t get any better than that,” Janna Greir mentioned.

The American Solar Grazing Association was based in 2018 to advertise sheep grazing on photo voltaic installations within the United States. Sheep are used on many photo voltaic farms in Ontario, however the concept is comparatively new to Alberta.

Access to a big parcel of land has been a recreation changer for the Greirs as first-generation farmers, and now they’re being approached by different photo voltaic initiatives and farms considering alternatives. 

Grazing sheep helps problem the notion that photo voltaic farms are a pressure on agricultural land, Janna mentioned.

“It’s saying that land can still be productive,” she mentioned. “Agrivoltaics is changing that.”

Doing double-duty in a inexperienced future

Hernandez Ramirez hopes the U of A’s analysis will result in a wider array of crops grown on photo voltaic farms and says the work is scalable, that means photo voltaic panels and vegetation might find yourself on balconies, in backyards or in metropolis inexperienced areas — producing meals and electrical energy.

Making agrivoltaics accessible is one thing he thinks may benefit communities throughout the nation, whether or not it is spinach or sheep. 

“If people are able to engage,” Hernandez Ramirez mentioned, “they might feel more connected to where their energy comes from and also where their food comes from.”