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Harvest the Sun Twice

Gradient Ocean

Keith Swenson

Jun 21, 2022

Kenya

Categories:

Agriculture, Food Security, Climate Change, Resiliency, Sustainability

Combining crops and solar panels in Kenya allows Kenyan farmers to harvest the sun twice. This interesting article comes from the World Economic Forum dated March 15, 2022.


Harvesting the sun twice is a colorful term for agrivoltaics. Plants use a process called photosynthesis to grow, but it is an inefficient process. Plants use only 3% of the sun's energy captured in photosynthesis, and plants reach a light saturation point.


Climate change is affecting agricultural production worldwide. More heat, drought and intense storms, crop diseases, and destructive insects spreading into warming areas and leading to more crop failures threaten global food production. Adaptive management practices are needed to bolster resiliency and lessen our vulnerability to famine.


Agrivoltaics is one step that might help. Agrivoltaics involves the installation of solar panels on frames about 10-12 feet above the crops. The panels are placed at intervals and angles to allow enough sunlight for the crops below to grow and farm equipment to move easily amongst the crop rows. There is a symbiotic relationship between the plants and the solar panels. The increased shade keeps the soil moist longer and temperatures cooler below the panels enabling plants to grow on hot, arid land. The moisture from the plants evaporates and cools the solar panels above, which helps them work more efficiently. In Kenya, where the practice is gaining traction, farmers found they could produce cabbages one-third larger and healthier than the ones in control plots with the same amount of water and fertilizer in the direct sun.


The power generated by the solar panels can be directed back to farming operations or put into local or regional electric grids. Traditional solar power requires the clearance of large swaths of land for the solar panels, which takes it out of agricultural production. Agrivoltaics uses the sun for two different purposes, hence harvesting the sun twice.


Agrivoltaics can be a triple bottom line win - economically, environmentally, and socially. Economically, it harvests the sun twice, potentially producing greater crop yields and producing more electric power with low fixed and variable costs. Environmentally, it reduces land consumption for solar energy, moves away from fossil fuel dependence, a benefit for climate change. Socially, it could help people living in areas with increasing desertification stay where they live. It adaptively manages the changing weather conditions, possibly prevents famine, and slows climate change migration and the resulting human upheaval.


Many advancements in our understanding of agricultural practices can make it more resilient and sustainable in a fast-changing world. Agricultural producers ranging from backyard gardeners to commodity producers tilling thousands of acres realize that practices such as "no-till" soil management, crop rotation, cover cropping, and "mob-grazing" can reduce the costs and improve profits from farming. Some ideas are new, and others are old ones brought back from the past. Now, add the use of agrivoltaics to this list.


And, there is one more huge benefit. Plants take carbon dioxide from the air and store it in the ground as carbon. The more land we keep green, the more carbon is stored, enriching the soil and allowing nature to heal "climate change."


Consider having agrivoltaics installed in your community gardens. Every city has surplus lands that are not viable for any use. Encourage your local government, local school boards, and electrical power generating companies to find ways to incorporate agrivoltaics on their properties. These lands could become productive community gardens, for example. Perhaps the local college or university would consider a demonstration project. Add another dimension to your home gardening with agrivoltaics and generate electricity to put back into your local electric grid or direct it to power your lights. The possibilities are enormous and only limited to your imagination.

Photo by: progressive-charleston.com

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