Ground-mounted PV projects aim to improve both animal welfare and agricultural land while generating clean energy.
Spanish energy group Iberdrola has been awarded four agrovoltaic projects with a total capacity of 12MW in a renewable energy innovation tender launched by France’s Ministry for the Energy Transition.
Criteria for the tender process was that the projects must care for the environment and improve agriculture and livestock farming on the land where they are implemented.
The French tender was launched for a total of 140 MW under two categories: ground-mounted installations with capacities ranging from 500kW to 3MW, and facilities on top of barns, greenhouses or car parks, with capacities ranging from 10kW to 3MW.
In total, 172 MW have been awarded in 66 projects: 30 ground-mounted and 36 rooftop, with an average capacity of 2.6 MW.
The four ground-mounted PV projects submitted and won by Iberdrola obtained the maximum capacity of 3MW and offer two solutions.
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One project is called Kirch and is aimed at improving animal welfare and the pastures used to feed cattle where panels are located, in order to increase the quality of dairy products from organic farming.
The other three projects, called Maubec, Lapenche and Solomiac, aim to improve agricultural land.
Climate change causes heat stress in both cattle and pastures, which affects milk production and quality.
To combat this problem, Iberdrola plans to place the solar structures of the Kirch project at a minimum height of 1.5 metres, allowing cows to find shelter under the PV panels.
Each panel is also equipped with an intelligent system that allows rainwater to be collected during the winter period, stored in a tank and filtered, and then used in the hot season to irrigate the pasture and moisten the cows to relieve them from the high temperatures.
Iberdrola says its prototype also predicts the onset of heat stress by cross-referencing data from the farm’s weather station and health parameters captured through smart collars placed around the cows’ necks.
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It adds that in case of extreme temperatures, sensors placed under the panels detect the presence of the cows and automatically activate the foggers.
The system is also able to predict the water needs of the pasture and activate the smart irrigation system, when necessary, in order to ensure green pastures all year round. This is intended to improve the quality of organic milk production at the farm.
The second solution, which focuses on maximizing crop production on the land, is based on the tracking technology of photovoltaic panels, but instead of tracking the sun to exploit electricity production, the single-axis trackers aim to optimize crop production.
The panels are installed in rows from north to south, which allows a rotation of the PV panels from an angle range between -70° and +70° in an east-west direction. Iberdrola says they are therefore able to protect the crops from frost in winter or intense sunshine in summer while improve the quality of the crop.
Shading provided by the panels is driven by an intelligent system that monitors the state of the crop through sensors installed under each row of panels; these collect and cross-reference plant and weather data to predict when the crops need sunlight and when they need shade.
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