Pam here….the spacing of panels allows for the sunlight to be managed over the crop. Broccoli, cabbage, cilantro, and other ‘cold’ or ‘Cole’ crops bolt or suffer in high heat or too much sun. In the south where it really gets hot, tomatoes and others crops would benefit from the moving shade of sun going over the top. So excited about this!!

Your videos are like a virtual classroom. I always come away with new knowledge and insights.

Brilliant. So simple and yet so few people get it. Well done!

I want electric broccoli.

The agropholtaics also saves water with the partial shading caused by the panels, which is why those plants are doing better..they got more water.

@juliahello6673

2 ай бұрын

I was thinking about that at first but then he said that the weather had been unusually rainy.

Very glad to see this Agrivoltaics is one of the most exciting things emerging in agriculture.

the farmers need to see this!! Have you guys seen "common ground" I have an it's amazing! we need more farmers to CARE not just keep buying pesticides!! thank you so much for this interview!!

No mention of winter - year round income and probably more with reflected light from the snow.

Just love how the farmer can have an additional stream of income. The bifacial panels getting the reflective light is especially a great idea for when it's winter and the farmers income is reduced or nonexistent. Adding a battery station could convert each farm into neighborhood Peaker plants!

I've read that Tomatoes actually do better when planted directly under the solar canopy vs open field planting.

@racingtogreen2023

2 ай бұрын

I think we'll be testing this with our single axis solar tracking system with raised beds underneath.

Recently they discovered you get more power in the same space by having solar panels vertical double sided, this would allow less shade for growing plants.

@jezlawrence720

2 ай бұрын

It would however mean longer shadows, covering more crop, as opposed to more shadow over less crop. I'd like to see the figures, basically. How much more crop Vs how much more power output overall Vs how much more capital investment for twice as many panels?

@laughinggas5281

2 ай бұрын

First double-sided does not mean twice as many panels. Second the vertical has to be East-West facing so that could limit the viability on certain Farms

@laughinggas5281

2 ай бұрын

The guy from Hyperion said that these are bi facial in the video. So kind of the same concept just not vertical

The combination of solar and irrigation has real potential. The solar can run the irrigation, the irrigation can be mounted on the solar system and the shading can reduce the evaporation. Win win win. The Coachella valley comes to mind for this agrivoltaics idea. Having power-lines and customers close by in arid climates where too much sun is a problem seems like a great business plan. We used to finance tile drainage with tile loans that would improve the drainage and value of the land. These loans were government issued on the property and paid off over time with the increased production. Farmers could use this historical financing tool to add agrivoltaics to existing operations. Diversification of the land without reducing production. Lets get on it, farmers are ever the creative bunch and once they see solar paying the bills it will be a done deal.

This is the way.

This is not gonna get as much eyeballs compare to your other works on YTube, but real appreciate y'all for covering this, it's awesome farming tech advancement

thank you for the good information looking forward to the next video

When I had a trampoline in our yard (in the Pacific Northwest) the grass grew like crazy under the trampoline. I had to keep moving it to new areas to handle the extra growth. I imagine that the same would be true under this system.

Agrivoltaic is awesome. Jack, you should follow up and ask those monopolistic utilities why they are dragging their feet. If it would be power deployment based on utility need, they could just do an expedited approval for projects with batteries. Something does not ad up.

Farmer Joe, you were great brother! Thanks for being honest and genuine. And, thanks for sharing. I'm seriously considering Agrivoltaics. Maybe I'll swing over to Mass. and check our your operation.

Fantastic video

Josh at Stoney Ridge Farms (KZread)should consider this for his cattle farm in North Carolina.

Nice work & explanations Joe, Jake, & Zac+ !🌅 I've been trying to promote multi-use cash flow using PV for most Farmers. It's actually an old concept, called 'Silva-Pasture' e.g. Pecan trees + livestock, which in general provide summer shade, heavy rain erosion control & Higher yields/ac.! Food is Energy...now Food+ direct Energy so more income for struggling farmers🌻🌻

grown in some shotty soil. good use of land(marginal). "I never been on the KZread" :)

Wonderful content, thank you

21:10 i think the main reason the state implemented a 10' height minimum because if there was no minimum some installers might use normal ground mount equipment and just graze sheep under the panels. It seems that most jurisdictions want to avoid situations where the solar panels might allow or push the farmers to decrease the horticultural intensity of their farming operations, ie taking vegetable farming ground, slapping solar on it then down shifting that to pasture or forage land. That said, 10' might not necessarily be the best limit. 8' seems pretty reasonable. I still think that the ground out here in ca that grows cotton and tomatoes on rotation could be ideal for deploying agrivoltaics at scale.

@davidandrew6357

10 күн бұрын

10' might look like overkill height for a field of broccoli, but as someone from Illinois farm country, I instantly noticed that the 10' was high enough to grow even very tall crops like corn or sunflowers. All the Community Solar projects that I'm aware of around here, were built with just the sort of low "normal ground mount equipment" that you mention. Farmers in this area tend to rotate Corn and soy beans, and depend on normal rainfall as the water source. Some of them see the Solar farms as something that only takes farmland out of production, but a set up like this would not do that.

Bats could potentially hang upside down beneath the solar panels during the day and hunt insects at night. The crops would need to be something other than broccoli because it's said that insects don't like eating it.

@vinumcopia9850

2 ай бұрын

You wouldn't want bats hanging above a field of broccoli. How would you clean the dropping off?

@tombh74

2 ай бұрын

I don't think the farmer thinks it is a good idea for his crops to be eaten by insects.

@HepCatJack

2 ай бұрын

@@vinumcopia9850 presumably the same process which cleans the droppings of field rats, mice, possums, raccoons, groundhogs. But given the corona virus risk, perhaps having ducks do the job may be a better choice.

Love it! With hard surfaces comes greater rainfall runoff; how is that being managed?

Depend on plants that requiring number hours of sun. I used your code to buy Tesla M3... Please use my reserve link for APTERA if any one buy, really appreciated... great video guys. I subscribed n follwedthey can add earth worms to soil to make it better soil...

Farm of the future.

Tomatoes on the support posts!?

Super green (fifth element)

great video, thank you! I'm interested to know more about the construction specs. For example: what size I-beam did you use (20' x ?) Also... couldn't make it out, but you said that for every foot above ground it's one foot below ground, correct?

Awesome 😎

This looks pretty exciting. How long does it take to make a return on the investment (for that area)? And, how long will those metal posts really last in the ground?

Nice to see actual agrivoltaics up close, and hear from the farmer. I think a major obstacle is the bureaucracy. In the EU I don't think the taxonomy can handle an area that both is agricultural farmland and also solar production, so farmers can't get economic benefits. Hopefully this will eventually change.

@HepCatJack

2 ай бұрын

I think that these systems may be disrupted by the programmable yeasts that can make any protein from giant vats.

@tombh74

2 ай бұрын

@@HepCatJack only one disruption at a time 😀 Seriusly, it would be hard to grow broccoli from yeast. Secondly, even yeast based production needs carbohydrates to grow, and the best way to make that is still using traditional farming.

Nothing like electricity made outdoors.

Is DI on X? …I need to share this…👍

Wow 6 months wait to turn on. That lost gigawatt of power...

What about when there is a hurricane? Will they hold??

@rogerstarkey5390

2 ай бұрын

Why not look on the bright side?

@KeithandPamBilyeu

2 ай бұрын

Pam here….inland Mass. gets how many hurricanes??

@jamesmarley1905

2 ай бұрын

We did have a tornado pass through western mass in 2011 - Hyperion's arrays withstood the sustained high winds...although this weather is certainly an outlier in our region.

Is there any cowdfunded investment opportunity within Agrivoltaics currently?

@fritsfmn

2 ай бұрын

Crazy idea .. love it

sometimes shade can help certain crops and the people working it........hold up, just got to the bureaucracy, spoiled the vibe. man, i swear, sometimes????