Harnessing the Power of the Sun to Produce Food and Energy with the Same Footprint!
Agrivoltaics is an integrated system designed to combine photovoltaic electricity production and agricultural production using the same land area without competing with the existing agricultural land.
One promising approach to agrivoltaics is the greenhouse system integrated with photovoltaics, where part of the incident solar radiation is harvested for generating power to meet some or all the energy demands of the greenhouse system.
PhD. student, Rebekah Waller, working in the organic photovoltaics covered research greenhouse at UA-CEAC.
Using photovoltaic films that can be tuned to absorb light not required for crop growth or transmit a spectrum which could be beneficial for the crop may reduce, in warm climates, greenhouse heat load and reduce energy and resources needed for cooling.
Our project at the UA-CEAC, evaluates the use of organic photovoltaics (OPV) wavelength selective film technology in the greenhouse production system on greenhouse microclimate, plant growth, produce yield and quality, and OPV’s energy generation.
Collaborators on this project include: Agriculture Research Organization-Volcani Center and Triangle Research Center in Israel, funded by Binational Agriculture and Research Development Funds (BARD)
CEAC Team: Rebekah Waller (PhD. Student), Neal Barto (Engineering Support), Tilak Mahato (Research Associate), Dr. Murat Kacira (PI).
For further information contact: Dr. Murat Kacira (Principal Investigator)
Related publications:
Magadley, E., Teitel, M., Peretz, M. F., Kacira, M. and Yehia, I. 2020. Outdoor Behavior of Organic Photovoltaics on Greenhouse Roof. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments, 37:100641.
Teitel., M., Ozer, S., E. Magadley, M. Kacira, A. Levi, F. Geoola, A. Levy, I. Yehia, R. Brikman, F. Peretz, L. Rosenfeld. 2019. Testing organic photovoltaic modules for application as greenhouse cover or shading elements. Biosystems Engineering, 184: 24-36.
Okada, K., Yehia, I., Teitel, M. and Kacira, M. 2018. Crop production and energy generation in a greenhouse integrated with semi-transparent organic photovoltaic film. Acta Horticulturae, 1227: 231-240.