Hernandez Velasco, M. Enabling Year-Round Cultivation in the Nordics-Agrivoltaics and Adaptive LED Lighting Control of Daily Light Integral. Agriculture2021, 11, 1255.
Hernandez Velasco, M. Enabling Year-Round Cultivation in the Nordics-Agrivoltaics and Adaptive LED Lighting Control of Daily Light Integral. Agriculture 2021, 11, 1255.
Hernandez Velasco, M. Enabling Year-Round Cultivation in the Nordics-Agrivoltaics and Adaptive LED Lighting Control of Daily Light Integral. Agriculture2021, 11, 1255.
Hernandez Velasco, M. Enabling Year-Round Cultivation in the Nordics-Agrivoltaics and Adaptive LED Lighting Control of Daily Light Integral. Agriculture 2021, 11, 1255.
Abstract
High efficacy LED lamps combined with adaptive lighting control and greenhouse integrated photovoltaics (PV) could enable the concept of year-round cultivation and become a feasible option even in the harsh climate of the Nordic countries. Meteorological satellite data of this region was analyzed in a parametric study to evaluate the potential of these technologies. The generated maps showed monthly average temperatures fluctuating from -20°C to 20°C throughout the year. The natural photoperiod and light intensity also changed drastically, resulting in monthly average daily light integral (DLI) levels ranging from 45-50 mol·m-2·d-1 in summer and contrasting with 0-5 mol·m-2·d-1 during winter. To compensate, growth room cultivation independent from outdoor conditions could be used in winter. Depending on the efficacy of the lamps, the electricity required for sole-source lighting at 300 µmol·m-2·s-1 for 16 hours would be between 1.4 and 2.4 kWh·m-2·d-1. Greenhouses with supplementary lighting could help start the cultivation earlier in spring and extend it further into autumn. The energy required for lighting highly depends on several factors such as the natural light transmittance, the light threshold settings and the lighting control protocol, resulting in electric demands between 0.6 and 2.4 kWh·m-2·d-1. Integrating PV on the roof or wall structures of the greenhouse could offset some of this electricity, with specific energy yields ranging from 400 to 1120 kWh·kWp-2·yr-1 depending on the region and system design.
Keywords
daily light integral (DLI) maps; LED grow lights; greenhouse integrated PV; adaptive lighting control; year-round cultivation; agrivoltaics
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Agricultural Science and Agronomy
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
