TY - JOUR
T1 - Comparative analysis of photovoltaic configurations for agrivoltaic systems in Europe
AU - Niazi, Kamran Ali Khan
AU - Victoria, Marta
PY - 2023/11
Y1 - 2023/11
N2 - Agrivoltaics is the dual use of land by combining agricultural crop production and photovoltaic (PV) systems. In this work, we have analyzed three different agrivoltaic configurations: static with optimal tilt, vertically mounted bifacial, and single-axis horizontal tracking. A model is developed to calculate the shadowing losses on the PV panels along with the reduced solar irradiation reaching the area under them for different PV capacity densities. First, we investigate the trade-offs using a location in Denmark as a case study and second, we extrapolate the analysis to the rest of Europe. We find that the vertical and single-axis tracking produce more uniform irradiance on the ground, and a capacity density of around 30 W/m
2 is suitable for agrivoltaic systems. Based on our model and a 100-m-resolution land cover database, we calculate the potential for agrivoltaic in every region within the European Union. The potential for agrivoltaic is enormous as the electricity generated by agrivoltaic systems could produce 25 times the current electricity demand in Europe. Overall, the potential capacity for agrivoltaic in Europe is 51 TW, which would result in an electricity yield of 71,500 TWh/year.
AB - Agrivoltaics is the dual use of land by combining agricultural crop production and photovoltaic (PV) systems. In this work, we have analyzed three different agrivoltaic configurations: static with optimal tilt, vertically mounted bifacial, and single-axis horizontal tracking. A model is developed to calculate the shadowing losses on the PV panels along with the reduced solar irradiation reaching the area under them for different PV capacity densities. First, we investigate the trade-offs using a location in Denmark as a case study and second, we extrapolate the analysis to the rest of Europe. We find that the vertical and single-axis tracking produce more uniform irradiance on the ground, and a capacity density of around 30 W/m
2 is suitable for agrivoltaic systems. Based on our model and a 100-m-resolution land cover database, we calculate the potential for agrivoltaic in every region within the European Union. The potential for agrivoltaic is enormous as the electricity generated by agrivoltaic systems could produce 25 times the current electricity demand in Europe. Overall, the potential capacity for agrivoltaic in Europe is 51 TW, which would result in an electricity yield of 71,500 TWh/year.
KW - NUTS-2 region
KW - agrivoltaics (APV)
KW - capacity density
KW - crop production
KW - optimal tilt PV system
KW - photovoltaic (PV) systems
KW - single-axis horizontal tracking
KW - vertically mounted bifacial PV system
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85165284216&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/pip.3727
DO - 10.1002/pip.3727
M3 - Journal article
SN - 1099-159X
VL - 31
SP - 1101
EP - 1113
JO - Progress in Photovoltaics
JF - Progress in Photovoltaics
IS - 11
ER -