fbpx
Wednesday, 29 April 2015 07:53

Advantages and Disadvantages of Photovoltaic Energy for Greenhouses

Initially we could think that the placement of these solar panels can produce two adverse effects:

  1. One on culture
  2. And another on the greenhouse structure.

The first one, due to the shade produced by photovoltaic panels on planting, thus subtracting a quantity of radiation photosynthetic to plants and shading specific areas of the greenhouse over others that are not exposed to this effect, it is possible to think production may be impaired or that it may lose commercial quality when it is sold in regular commercial channels.

Moreover, the second of the foreseeable adverse effects arising from the question:

Are greenhouses structures prepared to support the weight of the solar panels?

 

Because unfortunately, we are used to see that after a hail or strong wind many greenhouse structures are unable to withstand these loads and their structures collapse.

In response to this juncture various studies have been carried out by a team of researchers from the University of Almería AGR-199.

The results obtained over two years of research have been very encouraging since the two problems that posed initially have been resolved satisfactorily.

  1. First, tomato production obtained under these conditions was not diminished, achieving good results both in quantity and quality of the commercial product, so all doubts about the effect of shading produced by the solar panels located on the greenhouse roof, have not had a negative impact on the crop.
  2. Second, the new design of the greenhouse structure by using amorphous silicon photovoltaic panels instead of the typical crystalline silicon plates with high weight, allowed to adequately support the loads transmitted by the solar panels to the structure, having successfully passed the evaluations of the structural behavior of the greenhouse.

This type of greenhouses are very interesting because they develop strategic areas such as reducing dependence on fossil fuels, clean energy production, promotion and consumption of electric energy production located in areas of consumption. That is why a strong support for this item is expected in a not very long term.