CAREER: Combined land use of solar energy and agriculture for socioeconomic and environmental co-benefits

Temple University, Philadelphia PA

Investigators

Abstract

Competition for land and water resources between the energy and agriculture sectors may undermine sustainable developmental goals including mitigating climate change, controlling deforestation, and improving the quality of life. Despite concerns of large solar photovoltaic (PV) deployment encroaching on agricultural lands and natural areas in the United States, there are multiple configurations where solar PV and vegetation can be co-located that may provide mutual benefits. Moreover, in areas where geographic constraints render some of the non-electrified regions in the world (e.g. in Indonesia) too remote and costly to electrify by extension of electrical grids, small-scale co-located PV-agriculture installations may have the potential to improve rural livelihoods and to reduce emission from fossil fuels. However, the interactions between solar panels and the underlying soil-vegetation system, and the techno-economic feasibility of co-located systems could be better understood. The project will investigate the synergies and tradeoffs of co-locating solar PV with carefully selected agricultural crops or activities, using the combination of a life cycle assessment (LCA) models and field experiments. The project seeks to design sustainable engineering solutions to lower the environmental and economic cost of solar energy development by providing effective analysis methodologies and foundational data on solar PV - agriculture co-location approaches. Further, the project will evaluate the economic feasibility of co-located systems at different scales and the potential for improving rural livelihoods. Improving quality of life through energy accessibility and generating new income streams will decrease the need for additional land transformation. Both the United States and Indonesia provide unique challenges for solar energy development with minimal environmental impact. Therefore, the anticipated outcome of this research is targeted to provide insights to decision makers and prepare the way for smarter energy planning by optimizing the efficiency of land use, by maintaining agricultural production, and by avoiding additional land conversion. The modeling framework to be developed has the potential to be applied elsewhere, in many regions of the world experiencing land constraints resulting from rapidly increasing population and living standards. 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.