Experimental results, integrated model validation, and economic aspects of agrivoltaic systems at northern latitudes
Pietro Elia Campana, Bengt Stridh, Torsten Hörndahl, Sven-Erik Svensson, Sebastian Zainali, Silvia Ma Lu, Tekai Eddine Khalil Zidane, Paolo De Luca, Stefano Amaducci, Michele Colauzzi
Abstract
Agrivoltaic systems, which allow the coexistence of crop and electricity production on the same land, are an integrated water–energy–food nexus solution that allows the simultaneous attainment of conflicting Sustainable Development Goals. This study aims to analyse experimental results on the responses of ley grass yield and quality to shadings in the first agrivoltaic system in Sweden. It also aims to validate an integrated modelling platform for assessing agrivoltaic systems' performances before installation. An economic analysis is carried out to compare the profitability of agrivoltaic versus conventional ground-mounted photovoltaic systems and, using a Monte Carlo Analysis, to identify the parameters that most affect the profitability. Despite the agrivoltaic systems’ supporting structures and photovoltaic modules producing an average ∼25% reduction in photosynthetically active radiation at ground level, no statistically significant difference was observed between the yield of the samples under the agrivoltaic system compared to the yield of the samples in the reference area. The agrivoltaic system attained land equivalent ratios of 1.27 and 1.39 in 2021 and 2022, respectively. The validation results of the integrated modelling platform show that the sub-model concerning the crop yield response to shading conditions tends to underestimate the actual average ∼15% crop yield under the agrivoltaic system when no measures of crop adaption to shadings are provided as input. The results of the economic analysis show that, from a net present value perspective, agrivoltaic systems have a profitability that is about 30 times higher than a conventional crop rotation in Sweden.