SBIR-STTR Award

In order to meet growing demands of renewable energy photovoltaic (PV) developments will require significant land space for ground-mounted PV systems. This growing demand is creating competition for land resources causing the most challenges for small and mid-size farms. This challenge can be reformed into an environmental and financial opportunity for these farms with the increased research of co-locating solar energy and agriculture (agrivoltaics) on the same piece of land. Technological breakthroughs in efficiency and transparency of solar panels can be directly applied to agriculture. We will study various types of solar transparency in the agricultural setting so we can bridge the gap between current agricultural practices and solar energy development. This study is a continuation of a pilot study conducted this past summer as a collaboration between Sandbox Solar and Colorado State University. This study will replicate our pilot research on a larger scale with documentation and replications of growing conditions. Based on previous research we expect to see a marginal decrease of crop yield depending on the panel transparency. The study will reveal the exact growing conditions and suitable crop pairing with various transparent solar panels. Anticipated applications are PV integrated greenhouses solar high tunnel structures or raised carport PV structures. The PV energy of these applications can either be self-sustaining for the farm in order to reduce its carbon footprint and energy costs or the energy can be sold back to the utility as a revenue source and sustainable community initiative.