Vattenfall combines strip farming & solar power in Dutch pilot project

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Swedish energy company Vattenfall has been awarded a permit in the Netherlands for a pilot project that combines strip farming and solar panels.

The Symbizon project aims to demonstrate to a country that has long held reservations about placing solar panels on arable land that a "smart combination" of strip cultivation and solar panels maintains the land for food production, improves ecology and offers a "positive business case" for both Vattenfall and the farmer.

The project is being carried out with Top Sector Energy funding from the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Read more: RuralDorset project to introduce 5G agri-robots

"In the solar farm, we alternate rows of panels with strips where various crops are grown for organic farming. This means that far fewer solar panels are being installed per hectare than is usual," said Annemarie Schouten, Head of Solar Development at Vattenfall Netherlands. 

"To ensure sufficient light yield, we use double-sided solar panels. They catch the reflected light from the soil, the crops and the adjacent rows and use it to produce solar energy. The panels also rotate with the sun to maximise yield."

The park is expected to have a capacity of 0.7 MWp.

During the four-year pilot, which will be located across the IJmeer lake from Amsterdam in the town of Almere, a solar tracking algorithm will be developed by Dutch innovation organisation TNO that tracks energy and crop yields and the effects of herb strips, weather forecast, energy price and soil conditions and the algorithm will be optimised where possible in cooperation with Vattenfall and Aeres University of Applied Sciences.

Also, the effect of the solar tracking system on crop yield, diseases, and ease of use for the farmer will be monitored by Aeres Hogeschool, ERF, the largest private organic farm in the Netherlands, and Hemus, a foundation that promotes the switch to nature-inclusive agriculture, all of which have extensive experience in strip farming.

Read more: Brussels presents plan to boost organic farming

"The granting of the permit is an important milestone for the project," said Schouten.

"Now that it is clear that the park may go ahead, it is up to Vattenfall to decide whether the solar park will actually be built. That decision is expected by the end of the year and, if positive, construction will begin in early 2022."

The concept of deploying solar panels on farmland has been around for some time and has been called agrivoltaics and agrophotovoltaics.

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