Periodic Reporting for period 2 - HyPErFarm (HYDROGEN AND PHOTOVOLTAIC ELECTRIFICATION ON FARM)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2022-05-01 do 2023-10-31
The sustainable development goals of the UN and climate targets of the EU require that all economic sectors sharply reduce fossil-based use. However, the agricultural sector has the potential to not only greatly defossilize, but even produce energy – and that not to the detriment of, but alongside with food production. Photovoltaic (PV) has become dramatically more competitive relative to other renewable energy sources, and is now as competitive as wind power. Currently, PV-parks are installed on large land areas, leading to loss of land for cultivating crops. The ideal solution is provided by combined agro-voltaic systems with dual land use for crop production and simultaneous power production.
The overall objective of the project is to demonstrate the effective decarbonisation of farms by agrivoltaics while maintaining the crop yield. In order to do so, we will design and set up agrivoltaic systems, on which we will demonstrate different use cases for the energy produced, showing the technical feasibility, accompanied by an overarching study on the efficacy. The project aims to provide a clear show and business case for farmers to facilitate the implementation of producing renewable energy on farm and its local deployment. The main focus of the project is to demonstrate in a cost-effective manner that local energy production by integrating agrivoltaic systems on agricultural land is economically beneficial for farmers, while resulting in energetic self-sufficiency, sustainability and enhancement of farm resilience.
Not only technical feasibility is examined, HyPErFarm also focuses on involvement of farmers and policy makers via stakeholder innovation workshops, citizen-consumer acceptance, public perception analysis and farmer adoption studies.
The project’s impact is that agrivoltaic systems are moved upwards to TRL7-8, and attractive new business models are accessible for farmers. HyPErFarm thus supports a game-changing radical innovation and contributes to the building of a low fossil-carbon, climate-resilient future EU farming that can also supply local communities with power and hydrogen. HyPErFarm partners have the ability to adopt and further develop the new farming practices, to provide the new technologies required, and to adopt new APV-business models that will allow continued food production on land used for power production.
The overall objective of the project is to demonstrate the effective decarbonisation of farms by agrivoltaics while maintaining the crop yield. In order to do so, we will design and set up agrivoltaic systems, on which we will demonstrate different use cases for the energy produced, showing the technical feasibility, accompanied by an overarching study on the efficacy. The project aims to provide a clear show and business case for farmers to facilitate the implementation of producing renewable energy on farm and its local deployment. The main focus of the project is to demonstrate in a cost-effective manner that local energy production by integrating agrivoltaic systems on agricultural land is economically beneficial for farmers, while resulting in energetic self-sufficiency, sustainability and enhancement of farm resilience.
Not only technical feasibility is examined, HyPErFarm also focuses on involvement of farmers and policy makers via stakeholder innovation workshops, citizen-consumer acceptance, public perception analysis and farmer adoption studies.
The project’s impact is that agrivoltaic systems are moved upwards to TRL7-8, and attractive new business models are accessible for farmers. HyPErFarm thus supports a game-changing radical innovation and contributes to the building of a low fossil-carbon, climate-resilient future EU farming that can also supply local communities with power and hydrogen. HyPErFarm partners have the ability to adopt and further develop the new farming practices, to provide the new technologies required, and to adopt new APV-business models that will allow continued food production on land used for power production.
Agrivoltaic systems are demonstrated at 3 different European sites, namely in Belgium, Denmark and Germany. Different crops were cultivated underneath or in between the panels at the three sites. Wheat was chosen as common crop over sites. Results of wheat, but also other cultivated crops at the different pilot sites, proved to be quite distinct across regions however. In addition, each pilot site had an additional focus on other crops to compare agrivoltaic versus open field, like the Belgian site on spinach, the German site on white cabbage, spring barley, and potatoes and the Danish site on blue lupin and grass-clover. Furthermore, for the German site, site-specific effects on yield formation under AgriPV were investigated by studying microplots, which led to a better understanding of the observed effects. Finally, biochar experiments in greenhouse and underneath the agrivoltaic setup were performed which showed diverse effects. Experimental data from these crop trials gradually became available. The first crop data of Belgian agrivoltaic pilot site were used to validate the developed user-friendly agrivoltaic simulation tool. The model was further finetuned with some additional features. Initial validation of the simulation results with measured data was successful.
The HyPErFarm project also develops and demonstrates new ways of utilizing and distributing the locally produced energy. One application is the implementation of H2 production and consumption on farm. The installation of a H2 panel on the agrivoltaic structure was successful. Based on the output properties of the H2 panels, the design of H2 compressor module and its components was updated and optimized to accommodate the H2 gas input. The connection of the system to a H2 fueling station is currently ongoing.
Regarding the electricity production and storage, an analysis on the energy consumption profiles of relevant farm types was performed by a specialized newly developed modeling tool, in order to analyze how they can benefit from Agri-PV electricity generation, and how their electrical systems can be optimized, particularly with respect to the sizing of storage batteries. CO2 emissions were also taken into account. Usage of locally produced electricity is being demonstrated by developing of an electric farm robot. Electrification of a farm was demonstrated at TRANSfarm by implementing fossil-free technologies to fuel the farm operations. Solar energy empowers heats pumps, which fuel the animal housing facilities on site. Energy consumption/production profiles and CO2 emissions were analyzed and an extrapolation to conventional farms was made.
The agrivoltaics technologies were assessed in order to develop business models for the HyPErFarm project. A stakeholder analysis was performed to identify and characterize a group of active entities in the field of farm decarbonization through agrivoltaics. Furthermore, the stakeholder perception was examined by collecting qualitative data collections (interviews with stakeholders in three different countries). For the public perception, a survey has been conducted in which data has been collected in three different countries from about 500 participants each. Finally, efforts focussed on the mapping on how the current energy market works and how a farmer can intelligently participate in it in terms of flexibility, energy sharing, energy communities, etc.
As the experimental results and outcomes were exponentially increased, various outreach activities were performed which gained a lot of attention worldwide, which boosted the communication and dissemination campaign of HyPErFarm significantly. Finally, HyPErFarm is participating in EU clustering activities in the Area Zero Cluster, which joins 6 European projects.
The HyPErFarm project also develops and demonstrates new ways of utilizing and distributing the locally produced energy. One application is the implementation of H2 production and consumption on farm. The installation of a H2 panel on the agrivoltaic structure was successful. Based on the output properties of the H2 panels, the design of H2 compressor module and its components was updated and optimized to accommodate the H2 gas input. The connection of the system to a H2 fueling station is currently ongoing.
Regarding the electricity production and storage, an analysis on the energy consumption profiles of relevant farm types was performed by a specialized newly developed modeling tool, in order to analyze how they can benefit from Agri-PV electricity generation, and how their electrical systems can be optimized, particularly with respect to the sizing of storage batteries. CO2 emissions were also taken into account. Usage of locally produced electricity is being demonstrated by developing of an electric farm robot. Electrification of a farm was demonstrated at TRANSfarm by implementing fossil-free technologies to fuel the farm operations. Solar energy empowers heats pumps, which fuel the animal housing facilities on site. Energy consumption/production profiles and CO2 emissions were analyzed and an extrapolation to conventional farms was made.
The agrivoltaics technologies were assessed in order to develop business models for the HyPErFarm project. A stakeholder analysis was performed to identify and characterize a group of active entities in the field of farm decarbonization through agrivoltaics. Furthermore, the stakeholder perception was examined by collecting qualitative data collections (interviews with stakeholders in three different countries). For the public perception, a survey has been conducted in which data has been collected in three different countries from about 500 participants each. Finally, efforts focussed on the mapping on how the current energy market works and how a farmer can intelligently participate in it in terms of flexibility, energy sharing, energy communities, etc.
As the experimental results and outcomes were exponentially increased, various outreach activities were performed which gained a lot of attention worldwide, which boosted the communication and dissemination campaign of HyPErFarm significantly. Finally, HyPErFarm is participating in EU clustering activities in the Area Zero Cluster, which joins 6 European projects.
Based on existing demonstrator projects that highlight the potential of APV to produce vast amounts of electricity, and the careful design that is required in order to ensure sustained crop yield, we will generalize the approach to multiple countries, multiple system layouts, and various crops. In addition, we will work on sustainable farm concepts that include efficient buildings, novel tools, and the generation of hydrogen and carbon for storage. Thus we are spanning a large field of topics, from initial tests based on design concepts to the implementation of devices that have been validated on a limited scale. A number of the envisioned novel solutions will be tested and demonstrated in the different locations. The different methods for energy use will be tested for their efficacy on a comparable basis, and performance models will be established. This comprehensive approach, executed in this project for the first time, will enable farmers to choose from a set of established options in order to find the best solution for their respective use case. The broad portfolio of options considered facilitates adaptation to market conditions and an active role of farmers in energy communities. In their entirety, they even allow farms to become CO2-negative.