Solar Sharing: Assessing the potential for co-locating agriculture and renewable energy production in drylands

太阳能共享：评估旱地农业和可再生能源生产共存的潜力

• 批准号: 2025727
• 负责人: Greg Barron-Gafford
• 金额: $ 29.99万
• 依托单位: University of Arizona
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-09-01 至 2024-02-29
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2025727&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Solar; Sharing; Assessing; potential; co

Finding a sustainable solution to our growing needs for food and renewable energy production under a variable climate remains a grand challenge. This project will examine the potential for co-locating food and renewable energy production on the same parcel of land – a practice called ‘agrivoltaics’. Growing food in the understory of a canopy of solar photovoltaic panels may lead to multiple benefits, including increasing the efficiency of land use, while reducing the need for impacting natural landscapes. However, both crops and solar panels are sensitive to changes in temperature and climate. This comparative research will link field measurements of plant and solar panel performance in a traditional setting and this novel co-location system to determine the costs and benefits of agrivoltaics. This research will be conducted across multiple dryland environments to broaden scientific learning about how well suited agrivoltaics is to different climates, irrigation laws, and social contexts. Local farmers, K-12 students from traditionally underrepresented groups, and university partners will lead the research and education efforts. The food produced in the study will be shared with the community, along with the scientific findings.Food and energy security are national priorities. Both require land for production and are sensitive to changes in temperature and climate. Mounting demands for food and energy will only increase competition for land dedicated to their production. Co-locating food and energy production can have positive impacts across food, energy, and water systems by taking a more holistic systems approach and focusing the research across multiple dryland environments that vary in terms of temperature, timing of precipitation, and social context. Using a blend of field measurements and numerical modeling, this project will assess the impacts of agrivoltaics in terms of altering how water, carbon, and energy move through an ecosystem in terms of micrometeorological impacts, carbon cycling and storage, food and energy production, and mitigating sensitivities to environmental pressures. From a food system perspective, this research will determine 1) how being grown in the shade of solar panels can ease plant stress to high light and water demands, 2) how it might extend the growing season of crops, and 3) how much the shading of soils help slow evaporation, thus reducing the need for irrigation in drylands. From an energy perspective, the research will examine how much a solar panel can be cooled by the passive process of transpirational water loss from an understory of crops. Co-locating food and energy production may not only reduce land use conflicts, but also increase the production of more marginal lands.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

在多变的气候条件下，为我们日益增长的粮食和可再生能源生产需求找到可持续的解决方案仍然是一个巨大的挑战。该项目将研究将粮食和可再生能源生产放在同一块土地上的潜力-这种做法被称为“农业生产”。在太阳能光伏板树冠的林下种植食物可能会带来多重好处，包括提高土地利用效率，同时减少对自然景观的影响。然而，农作物和太阳能电池板都对温度和气候的变化很敏感。这项比较研究将把传统环境中的植物和太阳能电池板性能的实地测量与这种新型的协同定位系统联系起来，以确定农业的成本和效益。这项研究将在多个旱地环境中进行，以扩大关于农业如何适应不同气候、灌溉法和社会背景的科学知识。当地农民、传统上代表性不足的K-12学生和大学合作伙伴将领导研究和教育工作。研究中生产的粮食将与科学发现一起沿着与社区分享。粮食和能源安全是国家的优先事项。两者都需要土地进行生产，对温度和气候的变化很敏感。对粮食和能源的日益增长的需求只会增加对专用于生产这些产品的土地的竞争。将粮食和能源生产放在同一地点，可以对粮食、能源和水系统产生积极影响，方法是采取更全面的系统方法，并将研究重点放在温度、降水时间和社会背景各不相同的多种旱地环境上。该项目将使用实地测量和数值模拟相结合的方法，评估农业生态系统在改变水、碳和能源在微气象影响、碳循环和储存、粮食和能源生产以及减轻对环境压力的敏感性方面的影响。从粮食系统的角度来看，这项研究将确定1）在太阳能电池板的阴影下生长如何缓解植物对高光照和水的需求，2）它如何延长作物的生长季节，以及3）土壤的阴影在多大程度上有助于减缓蒸发，从而减少干旱地区的灌溉需求。从能源的角度来看，该研究将研究太阳能电池板可以通过作物下层蒸腾失水的被动过程冷却多少。将食品和能源生产集中在一起不仅可以减少土地使用冲突，还可以增加更多边际土地的生产。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。