Academics have used geospatial land eligibility research and existing legislation to identify the potential for up to 4.7 GW of floating PV, 24.6 GW of solar parking and 5,437 GW of agrivoltaic energy in Germany.
Researchers have analyzed the potential of floating parking, parking and agrivoltaic energy Germany. They say PV in parking lots, water bodies and agricultural areas are all ways to co-use land for solar energy production while reducing land use conflicts.
Their assessment used detailed geospatial assessments of land suitability and took into account existing legislation in Germany. Researchers identified study regions for potential analysis in each category and then defined eligible areas within those regions.
They found that floating PV arrays, at least 40 meters away from the coast and covering up to 15% of artificial and heavily modified lakes, could generate 4.7 GW of solar energy under current legislation. The researchers noted that the potential increases significantly if all lakes are considered, rather than just artificial and highly modified water bodies. With the same share of the lake, the distance to the coast and current legislation, the potential increases by 467% to 22.2 GW.
Researchers assessed the potential for parking PV in Germany by considering a range of parameters, as different states have different laws defining the minimum number of parking spaces per plot. They found a potential of up to 24.6 GW for existing plots with more than 35 spaces, 22.2 GW for plots with more than 50 spaces and 16.5 GW for plots with more than 100 spaces. North Rhine-Westphalia showed the greatest potential for parking solar energy, with up to 5 GW. In general, larger states had greater potential than smaller ones.
When assessing PV potential in agriculture, researchers took crop types and machine design into account, creating four scenarios: vertical grassland, vertical grain, horizontal conservative and horizontal innovative. They found that a combination of the horizontal conservative, vertical grassland and vertical grains scenarios results in a potential of 3,215 GW, while the horizontal innovative and vertical grassland scenarios lead to a higher potential of 5,437 GW.
Taking into account the German target of deploying 400 GW of solar energy by 2040, the researchers calculated that floating PV and parking PV could support a maximum of 1.2% and 6.2% of the target respectively, while agricultural PV could support this. “make a significant contribution” to achieve the national goal.
The researchers said that the future role of floating PV, solar parking and agrivoltaic solar energy depends, among other things, on regional capacity potential, generation potential, levelized electricity costs, environmental impacts and public acceptance.
The researchers concluded that their methodology could be transferred worldwide. Their research paper, “Potential of floating, parking and agricultural photovoltaic solar energy in Germany”, is available in the latest edition of Renewable and sustainable energy assessments.
Earlier this year, German startup Sinn Power unveiled plans to create a 1.8 MW floating PV system with vertically placed solar panels in Bavaria, Germany. The same month, another German startup, UV Energy, said it had developed a modular PV system for it parking lots. Recent research by the German Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems also shows that most farmers in the country are considering the use of solar energy. agrivoltaic projects.
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