Conversion of photosynthetically inactive solar radiation into electric power for enhanced agrivoltaic applications

到2050年，世界人口预计将增加到98亿，这将需要全球能源和农业生产大幅增加，这给土地供应带来了压力。此外，大气中的二氧化碳浓度已超过400ppm，不断增长的能源需求必须通过光伏等可再生能源来满足，而不是通过燃烧化石燃料获得的能源。在这方面，可以通过农业光伏来减少对土地的竞争，即为光伏和农业生产共同开发土地。在传统的农伏农场中，农作物种植在光伏电池板附近，因此它们在阳光下的总曝光量减少了。在农业光伏系统中，一种常见的策略是种植耐荫作物，如生菜。在这个项目中，我们将制造一个半透明的光伏组件，将太阳辐射分为光合作用有效辐射(PAR)和光合作用非光合作用辐射(Non-PAR)光谱。这种半透明的光伏组件由一个发光的太阳能聚光器(LSC)组成，该聚光器吸收非PAR并将光重新发射到位于其侧壁的光伏电池，同时将PAR传输到下面的作物。其目标是开发半透明的光伏电池板，用于建造农业光伏应用的温室。在这项工作中开发的LSC将是农业伏打系统设计的创新进步，因为它们将消除作物必须耐荫的限制。这将为SolarGrid Energy Inc.在不断扩大的农业光伏市场上提供竞争优势。农业光伏技术的这一进步将直接惠及拥有8000多万英亩农田的加拿大。

The world's population is expected to increase to 9.8 billion by 2050, which will require significant increases in global energy and agricultural production, placing stress on land availability. Furthermore, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have surpassed 400 ppm and increasing energy demands must be met with renewable sources, such as photovoltaics (PV), rather than energy derived from burning fossil fuels. In this regard, competition for land can be reduced through agrivoltaics, whereby land is co-developed for both PV and agricultural production. In conventional agrivoltaic farms crops are grown adjacent to PV panels and their overall exposure to sunlight is reduced. A common strategy in agrivoltaic systems is to grow shade-tolerant crops, such as lettuce. In this project, we will fabricate a semi-transparent PV module that splits the solar irradiance into its photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and photosynthetically inactive radiation (non-PAR) spectra. This semi-transparent PV module is comprised of a luminescent solar concentrator (LSC) that absorbs non-PAR and re-emits light to PV cells located at its sidewalls while transmitting PAR to underlying crops. The objective is to develop semi-transparent PV panels that will be used in the construction of greenhouses for agrivoltaic applications. The LSCs developed in this work will be an innovative advancement for the design of agrovoltaic systems because they will remove the limitation that crops must be shade-tolerant. This will provide SolarGrid Energy Inc. with a competitive edge in the expanding agrivoltaics market place. This advancement in agrivoltaics technology will directly benefit Canada, which has over 80 million acres of crop land.