Enhancing land use: Integrating bifacial PV and olive trees in agrivoltaic systems

Elmehdi Mouhib, Álvaro Fernández-Solas, Pedro J. Pérez-Higueras, Ana M. Fernández-Ocaña, Leonardo Micheli, Florencia Almonacid and Eduardo F. Fernández

Applied Energy, 2024, vol. 359, issue C, No S0306261924000436

Abstract: Agrivoltaic systems provide a promising solution for mitigating the competition for land between food and energy production. This study examines the performance of an agrivoltaic system in southern Spain, which integrates bifacial PV technology with three different olive cultivars. Different configurations of clearance height and PV modules tilt are analyzed. The findings indicate that PV modules tilted near the site's latitude achieve the highest energy yield, while vertically-oriented modules lead to the greatest olive yield. The variation in tilt angle has a more significant impact on PV yield, whereas the height of the PV modules primarily affects olive tree yield. To quantify the combined land productivity of energy and crop outputs, the land equivalent ratio (LER) is employed. The results demonstrated a maximum LER of 171% when modules are tilted at 20°, thereby enhancing overall land productivity. Moreover, the study reveals that olive trees display a moderate sensitivity to shading. These findings underscore the importance of optimizing the configuration of PV systems for dual land use in agrivoltaic while taking agricultural productivity into account.

Keywords: Agrivoltaic; Bifacial PV technology; Olive tree; Energy yield; Land equivalent ratio; Dual land use (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261924000436
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:359:y:2024:i:c:s0306261924000436

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2024.122660

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().