Rutgers School has chosen the vertical photograph voltaic system Sunzaun for an agrivoltaics endeavor at its farm on the Prepare dinner Dinner campus.
The farm at Rutgers School-New Brunswick operates as a hybrid of producing farm, evaluation facility, and instructing operation with the help of the Rutgers School of Environmental and Natural Sciences and Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station related actions. On the farm, school college students, and school staff care for various animals, along with sheep, goats, and cattle.
Agrivoltaics refers back to the utilization of land for every agriculture and photograph voltaic vitality period. The location of an agrivoltaics system on this ambiance creates a singular various for researching livestock interaction with photograph voltaic installations. Outcomes from the endeavor will contribute to the Dual-Use Solar Energy Pilot Program that is administered by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU).
The endeavor was constructed by photograph voltaic EPC contractor Superior Photograph voltaic Merchandise using Sunzaun’s vertical racking system. “It’s among the many first agrivoltaics strategies utilizing vertical racking inside the northeastern U.S.,” said Helge Biernath, CEO and president of Sunstall, the company behind the Sunzaun product.
The purpose of the endeavor is to analysis the potential benefits of agrivoltaics in a densely populated state with a necessary agricultural and livestock sector, a giant vitality demand, and a restricted home to assemble renewable vitality strategies.
Rutgers selected the Sunzaun vertical photograph voltaic racking system for its farm facility to cut back obstructions for instruments used to farm the property. The system has a whole output functionality of 170 kWDC and consists of 18 rows of 21 ZnShine 450-W bifacial panels each mounted in rows working North to South. Peak electrical vitality manufacturing occurs all through the early morning and late afternoon hours when daylight is acquired from the East and the West. Two totally different row spacings and panel mounting heights have been used as part of the experimental design.
Given that agrivoltaics system shall be used for experiments involving forage manufacturing and grazing beef cattle, the design included animal shelters (principally to create a shaded area), animal ingesting companies, and coping with a chute for safely managing large animals.
Researchers will plant a forage crop in April and might start grazing beef cattle in September. The goal is to verify the impacts of the agrivoltaics system on forage manufacturing and animal grazing, along with any behavioral changes the animals may exhibit when grazing among the many many panels.
This endeavor will help the Twin-Use Photograph Voltaic Energy Pilot Program that is administered by the NJBPU. This method, spanning a minimal of three years, has an goal to find the feasibility and benefits of agrivoltaics. It is a collaborative effort with the New Jersey Division of Agriculture and the Rutgers Agrivoltaics Program.
Data merchandise from Sunzaun
