Researchers make revolutionary discovery about key crops grown near solar panels: 'These findings guide optimizing'

Scientists have found that certain crops can grow remarkably well in the shade of solar panels, potentially allowing us to grow food and generate clean energy simultaneously.

Growing food alongside solar arrays in an agrivoltaic system can help maximize the productivity of a given plot of land. But because most crops are grown in full sun, scientists are still working to understand how the shade cast by solar panels affects crop yields.

To answer this question, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign examined how much grain sorghum and soybean plants produced when grown in the shade of solar panels versus in full-sun conditions, PV Magazine reported.

Even though both of the shaded crops produced lower grain numbers than the full-sun controls, sorghum was able to partially offset the yield penalty by increasing the weight of each grain, according to results published in the journal Smart Agricultural Technology.

Wheat and sorghum responded differently to shade conditions because they use different types of photosynthesis, the study's corresponding author, DoKyoung Lee, told PV Magazine.

By examining the plants' precise mechanisms for allocating resources and photosynthesizing, the researchers were able to recommend potential modifications for future crops, such as selectively breeding for shorter sorghum to improve fruiting efficiency.

"These findings guide optimizing cultivar selection and management practices in agri-PV systems," Lee told PV Magazine.

Other research into agrivoltaic farming has found that spacing solar panels about 8 meters apart can allow plants enough light to thrive beneath them. Pilot programs are already underway in places like New Jersey to test how crops and solar panels coexist outside of controlled scientific conditions.

The Urbana-Champaign study also noted that growing crops alongside solar panels was a more efficient use of land than either system alone, allowing farmers to earn more. 

"Combining agricultural crop production and PV electricity generation increases farm revenue while allowing crop production on the same land," the study's authors wrote.

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