Growing Grass Under Solar Panels

The only drawback is that weeds always find a place to grow so occasional efforts will be needed to keep them in check.

Growing grass under solar panels. The nikke group a manufacturer and wholesaler of textile and clothing materials is using three goats to control weeds growing under part of a 16 81 mw pv ground mount system. Solar shading decreased production 5 3 percent to 19 percent. It is quite inexpensive and requires little maintenance. If the sheep weren t here the grass would be growing to about this height which would create a problem for the solar panels because the solar panels are moving in order to capture the sun.

Grazing sheep or cattle on grass grown under solar panels. The extra cost of adding a solar canopy over crops could be paid for by the 5 percent gain in power production seen in panels in arizona reduced maintenance and premium pricing for solar grown. Growing agricultural crops under the shade of solar panels uses water much more efficiently while shielding plants from the worst of the midday heat. Sheep can take the place of lawnmowers and as the grass sucks up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Farmers also have another option. They found that the grasses growing in shaded areas under the solar panels were 328 more water efficient and maintained higher soil moisture throughout the heat of summer. Walking past one of the solar arrays on campus one day biological and ecological engineering professor chad higgins saw that green grass was growing in the array s shade. Agrivoltaics probably won t be feasible for large scale single crop farms that rely on heavy machinery.

So they installed instruments to measure air temperature relative humidity wind speeds and soil moisture in the areas under panels and under direct sunlight. The institute elevated 720 solar panels high enough for farm machinery to harvest plants underneath and nearby according to a 2017 press release. The grass has secondary benefit. The researchers planted wheat potatoes celeriac and clover grass in the open and under the panels and compared the yields.

Emu and goats keeping the weeds down around a ground mount solar system. The first is to plant low growing grass.