Solar Panels With Agriculture = Agrivoltaics

The best of both worlds? Possibly.

 

This could work well for those with smallholdings / large gardens who want to grow shade loving crops and generate power for local use or grid export (subject to local supply authority approval of course).

 

 

If deploying solar panels to assist the pursuit of growing things seems a bit counterintuitive, there’s a good reason for that. Until very recently, solar arrays have been the enemy of agriculture. Typical solar developments have involved papering rows of PV panels over acres of land that could be used for growing crops for people and livestock.

 

Read more here https://cleantechnica.com/2020/11/19/solar-panels-agriculture-you-aint-seen-nothing-yet/

 

 

In a country with so much sun, I fail to understand why solar water heating isn't widespread, especially on the islands where cold water showers were the norm.

53 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

In a country with so much sun, I fail to understand why solar water heating isn't widespread, especially on the islands where cold water showers were the norm.

 

It was the same in Malaysia, having hot water just doesn't seem to be a thing in tropical countries although the younger generation certainly like their aircon and hot showers (reference our power bills when the grandkids were staying during the covid lockdown).

 

When I lived in Seoul in the mid 90's the opposite was true. Looking out across the city showed just about every rooftop with a solar water heater (domestic PV was still in its infancy). Korean winters are pretty chilly (-15C) but with clear blue skies ideal for solar capture, with high energy costs a fact not lost on the local population.

Korea seems to have it together on many fronts, including pandemics. What is their attitude regarding foreigners living there?

On 11/21/2020 at 3:29 PM, Crossy said:

 

It was the same in Malaysia, having hot water just doesn't seem to be a thing in tropical countries although the younger generation certainly like their aircon and hot showers (reference our power bills when the grandkids were staying during the covid lockdown).

 

When I lived in Seoul in the mid 90's the opposite was true. Looking out across the city showed just about every rooftop with a solar water heater (domestic PV was still in its infancy). Korean winters are pretty chilly (-15C) but with clear blue skies ideal for solar capture, with high energy costs a fact not lost on the local population.

 

On 11/22/2020 at 6:01 AM, thaibeachlovers said:

In a country with so much sun, I fail to understand why solar water heating isn't widespread, especially on the islands where cold water showers were the norm.

I lived in a village for many years... cold water showers are very nice... even after I put in a small water heater, nobody ever used it... 

Thousands of smart Thai farmers using solar for water pumping during the day.

Again the expensive part of the whole idea is storage & limited longevity of batteries if do invest.

I know a private island spent 10, million Baht on batteries 8 years ago.

They have already been  replaced