Simulation model to analyze the spatial distribution of solar radiation in agrivoltaic Mediterranean greenhouses and its effect on crop water needs

Agrivoltaics is a new paradigm that combines agricultural and renewable energy production, making agriculture more sustainable, profitable, and resilient. Applying the agrivoltaics approach to greenhouse production presents both a challenge and an opportunity. The opportunity lies in the use of greenhouse rooftops to install PV panels to provide required shading in hot summer months in a more efficient and profitable way. The challenge relates to the fact that the intensity and uniformity of the shading may affect crop development and yield. To address this dilemma, the present study proposes a new model to simulate the distribution and uniformity of the radiation inside agrivoltaic greenhouses with PV panels installed on their rooftops. The proposed model can analyze any plane geometry for greenhouses as well as any PV panel layout and surface covering percentage. It can also generate reference evapotranspiration (ETo) maps to analyze the effect of radiation on crop water requirements and support farmers to manage irrigation. The results of the model not only provide the average reduction of radiation as a function of the fraction of greenhouse covered by PV panels, but also the uniformity of the radiation distribution, which is a key factor when designing an agrivoltaic greenhouse. The proposed model was validated by applying it to a case study in a real experimental greenhouse that had been utilized in a previous research work.