Re:A 100MW solar farm in Texas will mount panels directly on...
by usrusr on Saturday December 10, 2022 @01:19PM
(#33935108)
That possible heliostat future I keep bringing up wouldn't be about $/Watt (that was an argument for helostat back when modules were much more expensive, but certainly isn't the case anyone), but about finding a sweet spot in agrivoltaics between energy and nutrient harvest: Watts per impact on farming. Or more specifically, electricity dollars per impact on farming. Because when there is a large installed base of photovoltaics, watts at noon won't be worth much compared to watts at deeper sun hours. And for the same amount of off-noon watts, a heliostat setup would cause less shading to the plants below than any other setup. And as a bonus benefit, the east/west spacing inherent to heliostat installations would give a nice distribution of shading, at least nicer than with fixed east/west lines. I believe that the advantages are quite clear, but of course only if the mechanical parts can be cheap enough (in terms of resource use). Flat north/south lines that only pivot east/west would surely be a sweet spot, up to a certain latitude.
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