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Sustainable co-production of food and solar power to relax land-use constraints

Author

Listed:
  • Caleb K. Miskin

    (Purdue University)

  • Yiru Li

    (Purdue University)

  • Allison Perna

    (Purdue University)

  • Ryan G. Ellis

    (Purdue University)

  • Elizabeth K. Grubbs

    (Purdue University)

  • Peter Bermel

    (Purdue University)

  • Rakesh Agrawal

    (Purdue University)

Abstract

Renewable energy could often be land constrained by the diffuse nature of renewable resources. To relax land constraints, we propose the concept of ‘aglectric’ farming, where agricultural land will be sustainably shared for food and energy co-production. While wind turbines on agricultural land are already put into practice, solar power production on agricultural land is still under research. Here, we propose photovoltaic systems that are suitable for installation on agricultural land. Adjusting the intensity, spectral distribution and duration of shading allows innovative photovoltaic systems to achieve significant power generation without potentially diminishing agricultural output. The feasibility of solar aglectric farms has been proven through shadow modelling. The proposed solar aglectric farms—used alone or in combination with regular solar parks or wind plants—could be a solution for a sustainable renewable economy that supports the ‘full Earth’ of over 10 billion people.

Suggested Citation

  • Caleb K. Miskin & Yiru Li & Allison Perna & Ryan G. Ellis & Elizabeth K. Grubbs & Peter Bermel & Rakesh Agrawal, 2019. "Sustainable co-production of food and solar power to relax land-use constraints," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 2(10), pages 972-980, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natsus:v:2:y:2019:i:10:d:10.1038_s41893-019-0388-x
    DOI: 10.1038/s41893-019-0388-x
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    Cited by:

    1. Patel, M. Tahir & Ahmed, M. Sojib & Imran, Hassan & Butt, Nauman Z. & Khan, M. Ryyan & Alam, Muhammad A., 2021. "Global analysis of next-generation utility-scale PV: Tracking bifacial solar farms," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).
    2. Gorjian, Shiva & Jalili Jamshidian, Farid & Gorjian, Alireza & Faridi, Hamideh & Vafaei, Mohammad & Zhang, Fangxin & Liu, Wen & Elia Campana, Pietro, 2023. "Technological advancements and research prospects of innovative concentrating agrivoltaics," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 337(C).
    3. Madhu Khanna & Ruiqing Miao, 2022. "Inducing the adoption of emerging technologies for sustainable intensification of food and renewable energy production: insights from applied economics," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 66(1), pages 1-23, January.
    4. Femke J. M. M. Nijsse & Jean-Francois Mercure & Nadia Ameli & Francesca Larosa & Sumit Kothari & Jamie Rickman & Pim Vercoulen & Hector Pollitt, 2023. "The momentum of the solar energy transition," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    5. Guangsheng Pan & Qinran Hu & Wei Gu & Shixing Ding & Haifeng Qiu & Yuping Lu, 2021. "Assessment of plum rain’s impact on power system emissions in Yangtze-Huaihe River basin of China," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-10, December.
    6. Xu, Jiuping & Zhao, Chuandang & Wang, Fengjuan & Yang, Guocan, 2022. "Industrial decarbonisation oriented distributed renewable generation towards wastewater treatment sector: Case from the Yangtze River Delta region in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    7. Grubbs, E.K. & Gruss, S.M. & Schull, V.Z. & Gosney, M.J. & Mickelbart, M.V. & Brouder, S. & Gitau, M.W. & Bermel, P. & Tuinstra, M.R. & Agrawal, R., 2024. "Optimized agrivoltaic tracking for nearly-full commodity crop and energy production," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    8. Sojib Ahmed, M. & Rezwan Khan, M. & Haque, Anisul & Ryyan Khan, M., 2022. "Agrivoltaics analysis in a techno-economic framework: Understanding why agrivoltaics on rice will always be profitable," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 323(C).
    9. Wachs, Elizabeth & Engel, Bernard, 2021. "Land use for United States power generation: A critical review of existing metrics with suggestions for going forward," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    10. Gorjian, Shiva & Bousi, Erion & Özdemir, Özal Emre & Trommsdorff, Max & Kumar, Nallapaneni Manoj & Anand, Abhishek & Kant, Karunesh & Chopra, Shauhrat S., 2022. "Progress and challenges of crop production and electricity generation in agrivoltaic systems using semi-transparent photovoltaic technology," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    11. Pascaris1, Alexis S. & Schelly, Chelsea & Rouleau, Mark & Pearce, Joshua M., 2021. "Do Agrivoltaics Improve Public Support for Solar Photovoltaic Development? Survey Says: Yes!," SocArXiv efasx, Center for Open Science.
    12. Chelsea Schelly & Don Lee & Elise Matz & Joshua M. Pearce, 2021. "Applying a Relationally and Socially Embedded Decision Framework to Solar Photovoltaic Adoption: A Conceptual Exploration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-18, January.

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