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Please upgrade your browser or activate Google Chrome Frame to improve your experience New research from Belgium shows agrivoltaic facilities with trackers perform significantly better than projects with fixed structures The scientists found projects with tracking achieved an LCOE of €0.077 ($0.082)/kWh while facilities with fixed structures were found to have an LCOE of €0.10/kWh The levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) for agrivoltaic bifacial systems based on single-axis trackers is 23% lower than that of agrivoltaic bifacial facilities built on fixed structures, a new study from KU Leuven in Belgium has shown “Our cost estimations for this pilot study revealed similar expenses for both fixed and tracked systems,” the research's lead author due to the significantly higher specific yield (kWh/kW) the solar tracker exhibited a lower LCOE.” The system with the fixed structures was deployed with a row-to-row distance of 9 m to maintain appropriate spacing for crop growth and accessibility The solar modules have each a nominal power of 455 W and are placed at a maximum height of 2.6 m to minimize any visual impact the same module types were placed at a height of 2.3 m the structural elements at the backside are minimized by increasing the gap between the torque tube and module (50 cm) and ensuring longitudinal module spacing (1 cm),” the scientists explained the academics found that the facility based on trackers outperformed the fixed structure setup in energy yield resulting in approximately a 35% increase in monthly electricity production the system using tracking showed improved results in land use efficiency which takes into account both electrical and agricultural yields the tracking system has achieved 15% more total yield the fixed system achieved a 5% lower yield meaning it was no better than separate production sites the tracked system displayed a 47% increase in total yield and the fixed one an increase of 21% Throughout the rainy growing season of 2021 taking into account a trade-off between energy yield and crop yield the system switched to a traditional full energy tracking algorithm The LCOE for the fixed system constructed by the researchers was found to be €0.10/kWh ($0.107/kWh) while the system with tracking algorithm was €0.077/kWh those prices hike a bit when considering the crop yield losses that are due to the installation of the PV systems on the field An additional €0.02/kWh is to be added to the LCOE of the tracked system therefore while a €0.035/kWh is to be added in the case of the fixed system “We believe that the best business model for farmers and off-takers are power purchase agreements (PPA) contracts where prices of interspace agrivoltaics are in line with ground-mounted PV,” Willockx added there is still a significant premium due to the lower installed capacity per hectare and fixed costs.” The scientists presented their findings in the paper “Performance evaluation of vertical bifacial and single-axis tracked agrivoltaic systems on arable land,” which was recently published in Renewable Energy “Practical insights and limitations of agrivoltaic systems have been incorporated into the evaluation,” Willockx said More articles from Lior Kahana Please be mindful of our community standards and website in this browser for the next time I comment Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value" This website uses cookies to anonymously count visitor numbers. 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