Resilient, Economical Structures for Dynamic Agricultural Photovoltaics (APV) Plants

Reductions in precipitation and rising air temperatures caused by climate change are increasing vulnerabilities in the agriculture sector. Economic conditions across the United States are also placing greater strain on farmers and rural communities. The costs of farming are accelerating rapidly, and farmers need new ways to diversify their revenue. This proposal presents a plan to address these issues for farmers while increasing the availability of renewable energy by developing a commercially competitive photovoltaic solar tracker system optimized for deployments on commercial farms. Agricultural photovoltaics, or “agrivoltaics,” refers to the placement of agriculture and solar photovoltaic infrastructure on the same piece of land. The co-location of agriculture and photovoltaic solar is a symbiotic relationship where both the solar panels and the crops each help the other achieve higher performance. Our proposed agrivoltaics tracking system will provide several benefits for farmer communities, including diversification of revenues streams, protection from severe weather, reduced water usage, and better quality and productivity of crops. The proposed agrivoltaics tracking system will also reduce barriers for farmer communities to access clean renewable energy without having to sacrifice valuable farmland for a single use: energy generation. Through this Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer project, VesprSolar will develop a photovoltaic tracker system that is optimized for agrivoltaics but meets the cost structure necessary for utility-scale adoption. This project will be completed in partnership with the University of Oklahoma and will explore radically innovative approaches to reduce the construction costs associated with materials and labor. Based on the principles of modularity and platform design, the agrivoltaics tracker developed will be a highly reconfigurable solution that can be adapted to a wider variety of crop requirements and site conditions, while maintaining high system performance. To date, much of the innovation in agrivoltaics structures today is occurring outside of the United States by companies and research institutions in China, Japan, Germany, and Italy. Very little intellectual property in the field of agrivoltaics structures has been developed by American companies and research institutions. This research presents an opportunity for the United States to establish itself as a leader in the global solar racking market for agrivoltaics and, more broadly, in multi-use integrated photovoltaic systems. The workplan for this research project involves several design iterations, conducting of a Failure Modes and Effects Analysis and Design for Manufacturing analysis, a number of sub-system level tests, analyses of supply chain and manufacturing processes, and a real-scale pilot test with a fully functional agricultural tracking prototype. In addition to the benefits to the farmer and the renewable energy sector, we believe that successful commercialization of this technology would result in 500+ jobs, resulting in $336 million in tax revenue for the federal government over the first 10 years of commercialization. Further, this research will create opportunities for the entire PV solar value chain (EPCs, Utility Companies) serving rural communities.