On May 5th 2024 the Kick-off meeting of the selected demo drivers was held. The Symbiosyst research project gained new demo drivers, pivotal Agri-PV systems that will support the research project with their experience: practical expertise and data analysis.
The eight demo drivers were selected along a process by two steps: a preliminary call that was launched in October 2023, and a second step consisting in individual interviews with proponents. The selection process ended in April 2024.
The first demo driver is an Italian case from the Company, iGreen System Srl. The company set in Imola, Emilia Region, northern Italy built-up its own test field with kiwis, apples, grapes and monoaxial trackers.
The second demo driver is a Portuguese case, owned by the Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon: a solar urban garden. The project has been operational since the beginning of 2023, combining solar generation [6 kWp] and urban farming. From the farming point of view, they are exploring the impact of shading on plant growth (for a wide variety of horticultural products, both annual and perennial) and savings on irrigation needs. The design of the project was conceived as a pilot project for further replication as community urban gardens across the city. Farming is mostly undertaken by very interdisciplinary teams of volunteer students with very diverse scientific backgrounds. They will share PV data (including irradiance, albedo, generation per string, etc.), soil data (including soiling and air temperature and humidity), water consumption data (including irrigation schemes and impact of shading), plants data (growth rates of different species under different shading conditions) as well as sharing best practices for the development of urban and/or community horticultural solar gardens.
The third demo driver is a very large Italian project in Sardinia from Innovo Renewables. The Agri-PV system has not been built yet. The projects foresees a plantation of lavender, aloe and asparagus.
The fourth new demo driver is a Dutch case from the company H2ARVESTER. The project consists in mobile solar panels which become an ‘extra crop’ in the cultivation rotation in arable and tulip fields. For dairy farmers, the solar cars ‘rotate’ with outdoor grazing, providing a double use of agricultural land and generating extra income, with a maximum land occupation of 10% per hectare. H2ARVESTER presents a circular energy model designed for a local and/or regional economy, emphasizing a local-for-local and scale-by-scale approach. The mobile demo-driver has demonstrated, both in practical application and through scientific studies, to cast less shade on crops and fields compared to static Agri-PV systems and can provide data.
The fifth new demo driver is a Spanish case from IMIDA (Instituto Murciano de Investigación y Desarrollo Agrario y Medioambiental). IMIDA is starting the installation of two new Agri-PV systems in the region of Murci, while cultivations will start in December 2024. The demo driver will provide data related to crops in three opposite cases for comparison: Open field and greenhouses, Vegetables and orchards, and intensive ferti-irrigation and extensive rain-fed systems.
The sixth and the seventh demo drivers were recently invited to join Symbiosyst, the Italian company Le Greenhouse and the German company Next2Sun. We are looking forward to hearing from them very soon.
Photo credit: demo driver of the Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon