37. Agrivoltaic: A New Approach of Sustainable Development

Grid connected solar Photovoltaic (PV) plant needs land to the tune of 5 acre or 0.02024 Km²/MWp for multi crystalline silicon solar cell and 7 acre or 0.02833 Km²/MWp for thin film solar cell. This indicates that, the MWp level power plant consume large land area. As agriculture is the backbone of economy of the developing countries consumption of large land in putting solar power plant puts problem on food security. Thus, integration is needed for dual use of land both for power generation and at the same time it can be used for other economic activities. These two requirements were studied in MWp level power plants operating in Charanka Solar Park at West Gujarat. A typical MWp capacity power plant in this park is exporting about 1.68 million kWh of electricity per year to Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation (GETCO) grid. Long term studies indicated that the salt marshy barren land of the park has been converted into a fertile land and developed ambience for growing plant and vegetables. The possible reasons behind the improvement of land fertility is due to increase in land humidity by decreasing evaporation rate. Maybe the shadow from PV modules initiated growth of bacteria and virus to implant Carbon and Nitrogen into the soil surface. Typical plant like tomato was cultivated under the shadow of the solar module strings. The production of tomato generated revenue which added 30% reduction in payback period.