Talk:Agrivoltaics

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Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 17:01, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

How much cropland is needed?
We have three calculations for this: 1 based on Japan, 1 based on Germany and 1 based on California. Both the US & German numbers bug me because they are unrealistic.

The US numbers are based on a conventional solar array, not agrivoltaics. Furthermore, the researchers really made a very simple calculation: The wattage produced per meter in midday with a new panel in California/total energy demands of the world. To wit, US calculation is: total world energy demand (21 PWh)/wattage per meter (28 W/m2). Obviously: 1. California is not representative in terms of solar irradiance, 2. The sun sets, and is slanted in the mornings and evenings, 3. Maybe this doesn't happen in California, but elsewhere we have cloudy days, rain, snow. 4. The calculation assumes the panels can be installed back to back, but people need access roads and need to clean the panels, and equipment and hardware (inverters, transformers and transmission lines) needs to be stored somewhere, 5. as the panels get older their efficiency will lower, 6. there is transmission loss and conversion loss (DC to AC). 7. This only works if utility companies install an sufficient amount of other back-up power sources in the mix (which can easily be turned on and off) to stabilise the grid in case of demand peaks/production troughs (such as the recent problems in Texas -if everyone turns on electric heaters at night) -wind will help, but gas, coal, biomass and hydroelectric are best for this, nuclear and geothermic are worst (yet to be invented batteries/hydroelectric storage would solve this).

Making a rough calculation myself based on the above caveats, a more realistic expectation is that we will need to cover something like 8 to 20% of the world's cropland with solar panels to power the world -and that's if demand doesn't grow. This is possible, but we will have to get rid of the Amazon rainforest and the orang utans ... which is exactly the problem that agrivoltaics are trying to address....

Here's a rough calculation based on the Fraunhofer Institute's 2021 numbers: Germany had 11,763,000 hectares of arable land in 2016, 4% of that is 470,520 hectares. Germany's energy demand (Fraunhofer says 500 GWp installed capacity, which is too low, Wikipedia says 512.9 TWh in 2002) divided by those hectares gives 1.062654 MWp, or 1.09 GWh (let's use the second number for ease of calculation). To reach 21 PWh we would need 19,266,055 hectares. The world's total arable land is 1,407,000,000 hectares (FAO, 2013), so here we calculate 1.37% of the world's arable land.

Again, these calculations aren't realistic. Let's take the new SJ Solar Tsukuba Power Plant in Japan. This facility produces 35MWp on 54 hectare, or 0.648 MWp/hectare, almost half of the number Fraunhofer is using. Furthermore, at over 50% shading Tsukuba produces much more than the agrivoltaic systems made in Europe, and we are talking peak midday production, not actual average production.

This isn't a criticism of the concept of agrivoltaics. I think this idea has some serious applications, especially in certain regions, but I just want to poke at the numbers a bit to help the discussions about the subject be more honest. It would be much more preferable if a better source could be found to add to the article than crunching these numbers myself. Sorry for the essay! 86.83.56.115 (talk) 14:26, 9 March 2021 (UTC)

pv magazine
I tried to add www.pv (dash) magazine (dot) com/2021/10/15/new-tracker-design-for-agrivoltaics/ and it blocked it -- how can we get pvmagazine removed from blacklist? Agrytha cristie (talk) 10:36, 26 February 2023 (UTC)


 * Make friends with Jimmy Wales? I have tried to do this umpteen times without success Chidgk1 (talk) 10:55, 2 March 2023 (UTC)

remove citation request at top
I added a lot - I think enough evidence now available from peer reviewed lit to remove tag at top. Agrytha cristie (talk) 11:42, 26 February 2023 (UTC)


 * There are still many “citation needed” tags within the article - if you cannot find cites with a reasonable amount of effort I suggest you delete those sentences or paragraphs Chidgk1 (talk) 10:57, 2 March 2023 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Tech Writing for Agriculture
— Assignment last updated by AnaizRuiz (talk) 20:49, 9 May 2023 (UTC)