Photo: Michal Šafařík, iROZHLAS.cz
It might be a mutually beneficial arrangement: installing solar panels in fields where agricultural production takes place could help both the crops and electricity production. A team from Mendel University is testing out the idea in a vineyard in Moravia.
In a field in South Moravia, farmers are planting around 1500 Donauriesling and Rhine Riesling grapevines. But this is no ordinary vineyard. Above the vines rises a metal structure on which solar panels are installed.
Generally, solar panels in Czechia are not installed in fields where crops grow. But this is an experiment in agrovoltaics – a portmanteau of agriculture and photovoltaics (the conversion of light into electricity) – using the same area of land to obtain both solar energy and agricultural products, which could help farmers with energy self-sufficiency.
At the moment, legally speaking, solar panels cannot be installed on agricultural land in Czechia. To get around this legislative hurdle, the team of scientists from Mendel University. in cooperation with experts from the private sector. are planting their vineyard in an unusual place, says Pavel Kotásek from the Moravian oil company.
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Authors: Anna Fodor, Michal Šafařík, Source:iROZHLAS.cz