Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Will farming under solar panels take off?
Can farmland be double-used? One way to utilize farmland for dual
purposes is Agrivoltaics, growing crops or raising animals underneath elevated solar
panels. It allows farmers to keep farming on their land while getting additional
income from solar energy production. In India, over half of the population makes
their living by farming, which is vulnerable to climate and extreme weather
conditions. For such farmers, a steady additional income from solar panels will
improve their living significantly. There are challenges, though. Farmers need
to grow the right crops under solar panels, which reduce the sunlight by 15% to
30%. Also, solar panel investors have to bear 20% to 30% higher costs to
install solar panels than on regular solar farms because they need to be
elevated a few meters off the ground. Still, growing agricultural products
while generating clean electricity sounds like a viable approach to tackle the increasing
needs for food and electricity.
Read the article and learn how agrivoltaics work.
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