INFEWS/T2: Solar Solutions for Food, Energy and Water Systems (S2FEWS)

Purdue University, West Lafayette IN

Investigators

Abstract

Over the next few decades, increase in population coupled with rising per capita income and associated increase in consumption habits is expected to put unprecedented stress on demands for Food, Energy and Water (FEW) in large regions of the world, requiring FEW solutions implementable with minimal environmental footprint. While sunlight is an energy source that can provide the needed sustainable solutions, in most states and nations its large-scale use would demand extensive land areas, including agricultural land, for installing photovoltaic (PV) panels. Agricultural areas are promising due to their widespread distribution and accessibility for operation and maintenance needs, but PV panel structure shadows would also reduce yield of major crops. The proposed innovative design and installation of PV panel structures on farms will maintain greatly-needed full agricultural production, while introducing both a new water management approach to reduce environmental harm due to leaching of farmland fertilizers and the generation of electricity from farmland areas. The project's research on harmonious use of solar energy for food, energy, and water could accelerate solar energy investments and enable a more sustainable economy. The integration of research with education in the project will train and co-mentor students in multi-disciplinary skills essential for developing innovative solutions to complex systems problems as they join the workplace, contributing to U.S. manufacturing leadership. In this project, a novel solar spectrum unbundling approach for food, energy, and water management is proposed, along with an outline of a scientific and technical path to enable its use. This transformative system will be highly efficient, using the visible part of the solar spectrum primarily for crop photosynthesis, and longer-wavelength infrared photons for electricity generation with solar cells. In this new framework, PV structures guided by sensors will participate actively in rainwater collection and water management on a farmland to reduce the environmental footprint of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers. The PV structures will be designed and modeled to manipulate light intensities needed by the plants. Such PV structures will be installed at Purdue's farm; major crops will be grown; and plant, soil and atmospheric data will be collected using a range of sensors for further analysis. To develop a framework for farm water management, PV panels will be designed to collect rainwater for more effective system-level co-handling of water and fertilizers. Additionally, materials will be synthesized, and then new solar cells will be fabricated, which will maximize electricity generation from photons unused by plants. Key economic analysis will also provide essential implementation guidance. The systems analysis will be performed in the context of farming in the state of Indiana, with emphasis on meeting local electricity and water purification needs for farmland, as well as additional electricity to supply adjoining rural and urban areas. By the end of the project, a small-scale working prototype at Purdue's farm will demonstrate solutions for the key technical and scientific components of the integrated FEW system. Such a successful demonstration will then enable a coalition of farmers and manufacturers to build a farm-scale version of the entire system for testing on a regional farm for national dissemination. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.