Data from agrivoltaic canopy trials in France, developed by energy producer TSE and the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (INRAE), indicate measurable temperature, water-balance, and yield effects that reinforce the role of managed agrivoltaics in farm-level climate adaptation.
This sounds cool but the article could do with a paragraph explaining what they are doing. My impression is using solar panels as partial roofing over farms which seems to have some quite good benefits from the article.
Is all the electricity used by the farm or is that exported to the grid?
Generally export to the grid. Farms don’t use 500kW-1MW of energy usually.
Since industrial farms and oil company corruption have killed produce profits for human consumption, selling the energy is often more viable financially than the crops that grow under it, especially as far as upkeep with the absolute proprietary planned obselescense shit show that is the Agri equipment industry. Not to mention the insane Monsanto seed corruption and abuse. Many farmers are operating on a loss which has lead to regional monopolies as megacorps buy up bankrupt farms.
Going the agri-solar route could be the saving grace for many many farms. (Where it is viable at least and transmission is doable)
you see this a lot in the great valley region of appalachia. cattle farmers, unable to sustain their business through any other means, are converting to solar farmers. they can then let their cattle graze under the solar panels and use the land more fully. i’m excited for more agricultural uses under solar panels because grazing land is about the least efficient use of land and is generally only recommended for alkaline regions where really only grasses grow.