A disadvantage often cited as an important factor in photovoltaics in general is the substitution of food-producing farmland with solar panels.
[7][19] Cropland is the type of land on which solar panels are the most efficient.
[7] Despite allowing for some agriculture to occur on the solar power plant, agrivoltaics will be accompanied by in drop in production.
[19] Although some crops in some situations, such as lettuce in California, do not appear to be affected by shading in terms of yield,
[1][7] some land will be sacrificed for mounting structures and systems equipment.
[19]
Agrivoltaics will only work well for plants that require shade and where sunlight is not a limiting factor. Shade crops represent only a tiny percentage of agricultural productivity.
[1] For instance,
wheat crops do not fare well in a low light environment and are not compatible with agrivoltaics.
[1] A simulation by Dinesh
et al. on agrivoltaics indicates electricity and shade-resistant crop production do not decrease significantly in productivity, allowing both to be simultaneously produced. They estimated lettuce output in agrivoltaics should be comparable to conventional farming.
[1]
Agrivoltaic greenhouses are inefficient; in one study, greenhouses with half of the roof covered in panels were simulated, and the resulting crop output reduced by 64% and panel productivity reduced by 84%.
[23]
A 2016 thesis calculated that investment in agrivoltaic systems cannot be profitable in Germany, with such systems losing some 80,000 euro per hectare per year. The losses are caused by the photovoltaics, with the costs primarily related to the high elevation of PV panels (mounting costs). The thesis calculated governmental subsidies in the form of
feed-in tariffs could allow agrivoltaic plants to be economically viable and were the best method to entice investors to fund such projects, where if the taxpayer paid producers a minimum additional €0.115 euro per kWh above market price (€0.05 in Germany) it would allow for the existence of future agrivoltaic systems.
[19]
It requires a massive investment, not only in the solar arrays, but in different farming machinery and electrical infrastructure. The potential for farm machinery to damage the infrastructure also drives up insurance premiums as opposed to conventional solar arrays. In Germany, the high installation costs could make such systems difficult to finance for farmers based on convention farming loans, but it is possible that in the future governmental regulations, market changes and subsidies may create a new market for investors in such schemes, potentially giving future farmers completely different financing opportunities.
[19]
Photovoltaic systems are technologically complex, meaning farmers will be unable to fix some things that may break down or be damaged, and requiring a sufficient pool of professionals. In the case of Germany the average increase in labour costs due to agrivoltaic systems are expected to be around 3%.
[19] Allowing sheep to graze among the solar panels may be an attractive option to extract extra agriculture usage from conventional solar arrays, but there may not be enough shepherds available,
[18] minimum wages are too high to make this idea commercially viable, or profit generated from such a system is too low to compete with conventional sheep farmers in a free market.[
citation needed]
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You always insist things that won't work worth a damn will be awesome.
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