Agrivoltaics for arable crops

French developer TSE has commissioned its first agrivoltaic pilot project in northeastern France. The 2.4 MW installation spans 3 hectares and is installed on arable land devoted to the cultivation of soya, wheat, rye, barley, and rapeseed.

The agrivoltaic system is high enough to accommodate large agricultural machinery.

Image: TSE

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From pv magazine Global

French solar developer TSE inaugurated its first agrivoltaic pilot project on Sept. 8, in Amance, northeastern France.

The pilot facility is equipped with TSE’s agricultural canopy and a 2.4 MW shade with rotating solar panels fixed on cables 5 meters above the ground. The company also uses tracking algorithms via a SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system to orient the PV modules according to climatic conditions. By optimizing this tracking algorithm, TSE hopes to be able to increase production between 10% and 20% compared to a conventional PV plant.

“We believe that it is possible to reconcile sustainable agriculture, green energy, redeployment of biodiversity and preservation of water resources. This is the meaning of the ambitious program that we have designed and that we are currently deploying in nine other sites in France,” said Mathieu Debonnet, the president of TSE.

The company said it will begin building three other pilot sites by the end of this year. It will conduct agronomic trial for nine years over an area of ​​5 hectares to demonstrate the effectiveness of the agricultural canopy on different crops. It has set up a joint research project with INRAE, a public research institute that focuses on agriculture, food and the environment.

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