Modeling of Stochastic Temperature and Heat Stress Directly Underneath Agrivoltaic Conditions with Orthosiphon Stamineus Crop Cultivation

Noor Fadzlinda Othman,Ahmad Suhaizi Mat Su,Adam Jalaludin,Guangnan Chen,Ahmad Hakiim Jamaluddin,Mohammad Effendy Yaacob,Hashim Hizam,Mohd Fairuz Shahidan,Juju Nakasha Jaafar

doi:10.3390/agronomy10101472

Noor Fadzlinda Othman, Ahmad Suhaizi Mat Su + Show 7 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10101472

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Abstract

This paper presents the field measured data of the ambient temperature profile and the heat stress occurrences directly underneath ground-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays (monocrystalline-based), focusing on different temperature levels. A previous study has shown that a 1 °C increase in PV cell temperature results in a reduction of 0.5% in energy conversion efficiency; thus, the temperature factor is critical, especially to solar farm operators. The transpiration process also plays an important role in the cooling of green plants where, on average, it could dissipate a significant amount of the total solar energy absorbed by the leaves, making it a good natural cooling mechanism. It was found from this work that the PV system’s bottom surface temperature was the main source of dissipated heat, as shown in the thermal images recorded at 5-min intervals at three sampling times. A statistical analysis further showed that the thermal correlation for the transpiration process and heat stress occurrences between the PV system’s bottom surface and plant height will be an important factor for large scale plant cultivation in agrivoltaic farms.

Highlights

Dramatic changes and increasing public interest in solar photovoltaic (PV) landscapes show that the dual beneficial use of land may have better impacts on energy production and future agricultureAgronomy 2020, 10, 1472; doi:10.3390/agronomy10101472 www.mdpi.com/journal/agronomyAgronomy 2020, 10, 1472 transdisciplinary design
The contribution from this work can be shown in the temperature elements plotted in Figure 7, where the actual temperature pattern for six different heights under agrivoltaic conditions is portrayed, made for the temperature values at each location and level based on the color indicator on the right side
As a major source of renewable energy, many photovoltaic farms have been constructed in the world

Summary

Introduction

Dramatic changes and increasing public interest in solar photovoltaic (PV) landscapes show that the dual beneficial use of land may have better impacts on energy production and future agricultureAgronomy 2020, 10, 1472; doi:10.3390/agronomy10101472 www.mdpi.com/journal/agronomyAgronomy 2020, 10, 1472 transdisciplinary design. The PV industry for large scale solar projects is dominated by energy companies but, based on the effort above, it is shown that experts in higher education within the research environment have the capabilities to compete with energy companies in the solar PV industry This trend has been transferred to ecological efficiency and positive effects, upscaling the number and size of PV systems installed on the land. Decreasing price of PV modules in the world market in line with the increasing demand of fresh produce promotes the idea of agro-PV integration, commonly known as an agrivoltaic system This type of solar power system is a power generation system that incorporates several parts, namely PV modules, solar inverters, mounting, cabling and other electrical components, which are integrated in the balance of systems (BOS) [3,4]. This statement is evidenced by the increasing quota for large scale solar (LSS) PV systems and the commitment by the Ministry of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change (MESTECC) [5] to persistently aim for a 20% energy mix by the year 2025 with multiple initiatives [6]

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