In Brazil, pv Magazine reported that Brazilian scientists have investigated the potential of agrivoltaics on sugarcane fields and have found this combination may provide benefits in terms of both agricultural and electricity yield.
Their results showed that under certain conditions the sugarcane yield below the panels can be higher than that of plots without PV.
The research has been carried out by a team from the Federal University of Alagoas in Brazil.
“Our analysis showed that crop yield was higher in the agrivoltaic environment as compared to the conventional environment cultivation,” the research’s lead author, Leonardo Faustino Lacerda de Souza, told pv magazine. “These performances, combined with electrical production, led to high land use efficiency values. This is relevant for a state like Alagoas, where sugarcane covers around 324,500 hectares spread across 67 municipalities.”
The analysis also showed that sugarcane yield in the agrivoltaic system was higher than a reference cultivation area without solar panels. Sugarcane stalk yield in the agrivoltaic areas was found to be 43.2% higher than in the reference area, which the scientists attributed to higher photosynthesis capacity, according to the report.
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Category: Food & Agriculture
