Throwing Shade Is Solar Energy's New Superpower -WAPO

[Caribbeans]

Throwing Shade Is Solar Energy’s New Superpower

Analysis by Adam Minter | Bloomberg | October 3, 2022

In rural America, the shoulder-high corn is increasingly competing with a new cash crop: solar power. Acres of solar panels shine brightly in fields along interstates and rural byways, signaling a change in how America’s farming country generates income. The need for a happy marriage between these old and new industries has inspired a burst of innovation and a new word to describe the combination: Agrivoltaics.

The Inflation Reduction Act includes billions of dollars in renewable energy funds that will accelerate the adoption of solar and other renewables. Some of the new solar panels will land on rooftops, but most will be concentrated in large utility-scale arrays that the US Department of Energy claims could eventually cover an area roughly equivalent in size to Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.

Solar panels work best in light winds, moderate temperatures and low humidity. Rooftops share some of these characteristics. But nothing maximizes that combination of traits quite so well as cropland. For solar developers keen to get the most from their investments, that makes farm country irresistible...

...The benefits of agrivoltaics didn’t just accrue to the farmers. The Arizona studies found that solar panels with a garden growing beneath them stayed cooler and produced more energy. That kind of synergy is leading solar developers to look more carefully at working with farmers and encouraging further investments in rural solar...more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/throwing-shade-is-solar-energys-new-superpower/2022/10/02/f14ed070-4252-11ed-be17-89cbe6b8c0a5_story.html

Agrivoltaics in China

[karin_sj]

1. This is so great!

Thanks for sharing it!

[VMA131Marine]

2. On a large enough scale, photovoltaic farms will cool the local climate

They convert 18%-20%+ of the incident solar energy to electricity, which gets transmitted far away with power lines. That should have a significant, likely positive, effect on peak temperatures reached where such solar farms are located.

[Duppers]

3. TY for posting this!

And for all your great posts, Caribbeans.