Post by account_disabled on Feb 27, 2024 4:55:14 GMT
The giant energy company Iberdrola is very interested in its latest project, a small array of a few solar panels with a total capacity of kilowatts, called Winesolar. The flea-sized project could have a broad impact on both the solar industry and the wine industry. It deploys “smart” agrivoltaic principles to house and nourish grapes in Spanish vineyards such as those in the city of Guadamur in Toledo, Spain.
Smart solar panels to protect Spanish vineyards
For those of you who are new to the topic, agrivoltaics takes advantage of the shady microclimate created by solar panels to keep the soil underneath for agricultural use. Initial projects consisted primarily of cultivating pollinator habitats and grasslands for livestock grazing.
More recently, the countryside has diversified into food crops, fruit trees and related activities such as growing grapes for wine.
Iberdrola is not the first to mix solar panels with Spanish vineyards, but it could be the first company in Spain to deploy remote sensors to track the impact of solar panels on growing c Brazil Mobile Number List onditions within the array. At least, that's what Iberdrola says.
“Iberdrola has launched the first smart agrovoltaic plant in Spain in the Spanish vineyards of González Byass and Grupo Emperador located in the Toledo town of Guadamur,” the company reported in a press release last week.
“This innovative installation allows the arrangement of the modules to be adapted to the needs of Spanish vineyards, to regulate the incidence of the sun and the temperature through the shading of the panels,” they add.
Agrovoltaics, now with algorithms
To put things into perspective, the Winesolar project is really a drop in Iberdrola's bucket. The company expects to add , megawatts of solar panels to Spain in the coming months, accumulating , megawatts installed earlier this year along with megawatts from last year.
However, less is more in this case. Winesolar will be a testing ground for combining agriculture with technology in new and different ways.
In addition to Iberdrola's solar panels, two other key players in the fields of renewable energy and information technologies participate in the project.
Global company PVH contributes its advanced trackers, which allow solar panels to tilt to an optimal position to capture the sun during the diurnal cycle. Iberdrola has also hired the IT solutions company Techedge for the digital part, to align the efficiency of solar panels with agricultural objectives.
“The installation will have followers controlled by an artificial intelligence algorithm capable of determining the optimal position of the solar panels placed on the vines at all times,” explains Iberdrola.
“The degree of inclination is established based on the information collected by the sensors placed in the vineyards, which record data related to solar radiation, soil humidity, wind conditions and the thickness of the vine trunk, among others. ", keep going.
Solar panels and regenerative agriculture
If this is starting to sound like regenerative agriculture, that's no coincidence. Regenerative agriculture focuses on soil health and water conservation, leading to better crop yields, and these goals can be aided by the heat reduction and wind protection effect of solar panels.
Although the vineyard facility is a pilot size, Iberdrola already foresees a huge improvement in the quality of the grapes and the ability of the vines to resist the impacts of climate change.
Spanish vineyards, owned by firms González Byass and Grupo Emperador, could also see some additional bottom-line benefits from solar panels, including greater land-use efficiency and water conservation.
The two companies also hope to reduce carbon emissions from their respective global footprints.
González Byass lists six forms of renewable energy at work in his global carbon reduction plan, including geothermal energy , heat pumps, green hydrogen, solar thermal and biomass, in addition to solar panels.
The company says it generates a total of million kilowatt-hours annually from these six sources. The new agrivoltaic project doesn't add much to the total, but it could help González Byass focus on sites that are harder to decarbonize.
Emperador is also focusing on decarbonization as part of a commitment from Andrew Tan's extensive Alliance Global Group.
Smart solar panels to protect Spanish vineyards
For those of you who are new to the topic, agrivoltaics takes advantage of the shady microclimate created by solar panels to keep the soil underneath for agricultural use. Initial projects consisted primarily of cultivating pollinator habitats and grasslands for livestock grazing.
More recently, the countryside has diversified into food crops, fruit trees and related activities such as growing grapes for wine.
Iberdrola is not the first to mix solar panels with Spanish vineyards, but it could be the first company in Spain to deploy remote sensors to track the impact of solar panels on growing c Brazil Mobile Number List onditions within the array. At least, that's what Iberdrola says.
“Iberdrola has launched the first smart agrovoltaic plant in Spain in the Spanish vineyards of González Byass and Grupo Emperador located in the Toledo town of Guadamur,” the company reported in a press release last week.
“This innovative installation allows the arrangement of the modules to be adapted to the needs of Spanish vineyards, to regulate the incidence of the sun and the temperature through the shading of the panels,” they add.
Agrovoltaics, now with algorithms
To put things into perspective, the Winesolar project is really a drop in Iberdrola's bucket. The company expects to add , megawatts of solar panels to Spain in the coming months, accumulating , megawatts installed earlier this year along with megawatts from last year.
However, less is more in this case. Winesolar will be a testing ground for combining agriculture with technology in new and different ways.
In addition to Iberdrola's solar panels, two other key players in the fields of renewable energy and information technologies participate in the project.
Global company PVH contributes its advanced trackers, which allow solar panels to tilt to an optimal position to capture the sun during the diurnal cycle. Iberdrola has also hired the IT solutions company Techedge for the digital part, to align the efficiency of solar panels with agricultural objectives.
“The installation will have followers controlled by an artificial intelligence algorithm capable of determining the optimal position of the solar panels placed on the vines at all times,” explains Iberdrola.
“The degree of inclination is established based on the information collected by the sensors placed in the vineyards, which record data related to solar radiation, soil humidity, wind conditions and the thickness of the vine trunk, among others. ", keep going.
Solar panels and regenerative agriculture
If this is starting to sound like regenerative agriculture, that's no coincidence. Regenerative agriculture focuses on soil health and water conservation, leading to better crop yields, and these goals can be aided by the heat reduction and wind protection effect of solar panels.
Although the vineyard facility is a pilot size, Iberdrola already foresees a huge improvement in the quality of the grapes and the ability of the vines to resist the impacts of climate change.
Spanish vineyards, owned by firms González Byass and Grupo Emperador, could also see some additional bottom-line benefits from solar panels, including greater land-use efficiency and water conservation.
The two companies also hope to reduce carbon emissions from their respective global footprints.
González Byass lists six forms of renewable energy at work in his global carbon reduction plan, including geothermal energy , heat pumps, green hydrogen, solar thermal and biomass, in addition to solar panels.
The company says it generates a total of million kilowatt-hours annually from these six sources. The new agrivoltaic project doesn't add much to the total, but it could help González Byass focus on sites that are harder to decarbonize.
Emperador is also focusing on decarbonization as part of a commitment from Andrew Tan's extensive Alliance Global Group.
