Agrivoltaic Movement Pivots To Green Hydrogen

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The global agrivoltaic industry launched just a few years ago, with the aim of enabling crops and livestock to share the space with rural solar power plants. Also called agri-pv or agrisolar, agrivoltaics has quickly evolved into a springboard for additional clean tech innovation, too. The latest news involves on-site green hydrogen production, aimed at providing farmers with a new, off-grid fuel and energy storage option.

Agrivoltaics Meets Green Hydrogen

The combination of green hydrogen and agrivoltaics is new to the CleanTechnica radar, but researchers have been on the case. The technology pieces are already in place. The next question is whether or not such a dual-use system is profitable for the farmer and sustainable in the context of the global food supply.

A research team at the University of Exeter is among those studying the issue. In January they produced a financial analysis of a simulated agrivoltaic and green hydrogen system, based on a 1-gigawatt solar power plant. The hydrogen would be produced in an electrolysis facility, powered by electricity from the solar array.

Water electrolysis presents a more sustainable alternative to the traditional hydrogen supply chain, which consists almost entirely of natural gas along with coal. Under the current state of technologies and markets, though, green hydrogen is an expensive proposition. Uptake has been slow and the timeline is littered with failed projects, particularly in regards to hydrogen fuel cell EVs.

Still, government policies in several key hydrogen markets continue to underwrite the shift to green hydrogen, partly with an eye on industrial demand for hydrogen. Some automakers, including BMW and Hyundai, have also signaled their continued support for hydrogen fuel cell EVs (see more green H2 background here).

With all this in mind, the Exeter team focused on the potential for leveraging agrivoltaics to support food systems while also producing green hydrogen fuel to support FCEV fueling stations in Australia, California, China, Nigeria and Spain. After sampling several alternatives, they settled on a simulated crop of tomatoes.

“The novelty of this report is derived from this being the first investigation into simulating the integration of hydrogen production with large-scale agrivoltaic systems that address the energy needs of farmers, enhance their self-sufficiency, and mitigate range anxiety among fuel cell vehicle users,” the research team explains.

Agrivoltaics & Land Equivalence Ratios

The study, titled “Analysis of large-scale (1GW) off-grid agrivoltaic solar farm for hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric vehicle (HFCEV) charging station,” deploys an assessment based on LER (Land Equivalent Ratio). The LER formula is a means of determining whether or not a farmer gains value by interspersing more than one crop on the same field, or by keeping them separate. An LER greater than 1.0 indicates that a dual-use approach is more economical than separating the crops in different fields.

As applied to agrivolataics, the LER formula takes into account the shrinkage of crop yields due to the placement and shading from solar panels. According to the team’ calculations, the loss of space for tomatoes would still put their model in positive LER territory in all five study areas, with Nigeria in the lead at 1.75, followed closely by Spain at 1.73, Australia at 1.66, China at 1.57, and California at 1.48.

“Despite these challenges, the research advocates for a broader perspective, suggesting that the benefits of land recovery and additional income from electricity generation should offset the reduced harvest yields,” the team concludes.

Co-Location Of Solar, Wind, & Green Hydrogen

Other models demonstrate similar challenges (two more examples are here and here). However, the European Union, for one, is not waiting around for additional LER studies. EU policy supports green hydrogen as a decarbonization pathway and a means of cutting Russia off from its energy markets, and the European Commission is beginning to explore the idea of co-locating agrivoltaics and with water electrolysis.

The EU Innovation Fund is supporting a new, shovel-ready project that co-locates a wind turbine with an agrivoltaic array for water electrolysis at a site in Kehlen, Luxemborg. Called ECHO-WAVE, the project is aimed partly at producing green hydrogen as a local, off-grid alternative to building expensive new transmission lines.

Once operational in 2027, ECHO-WAVE is expected to fulfill 60% of Luxembourg’s current hydrogen demand, including FCEVs as well as industrial users.

Meanwhile, Over In The US…

The idea is of localizing hydrogen production with on-site renewable energy is not particularly new. Back in 2020, the US Department of Energy was promoting the idea of co-locating distributed wind turbines on farms. With their own wind turbine and an on-site electrolysis system, farmers could produce their own green hydrogen for fuel or for sale as another source of revenue.

In fact, federal support for green hydrogen blossomed during the Biden administration with the launch of a new $7 billion hydrogen diversification effort. The main thrust was water electrolysis along with biomass and other renewable hydrogen sources. The program also included a measure of support for traditional hydrogen producers. Notably, California was one of seven new hydrogen hubs selected for funding, but practically the entire plan has been mothballed by President Donald Trump.

Still, the demand for hydrogen is not going anywhere soon, particularly so among industrial users if not within the mobility market. Also, the wind is not going to stop blowing anytime soon, and the sun will continue to come up every day, regardless of who occupies the White House (or what’s left of it) after January 20, 2029, when President Trump is scheduled to leave office — peacefully one hopes, this time.

For that matter, Russia will continue to lash at Europe’s doorstep until its economy is neutralized and the war machine grinds to a halt. That means cutting off its fossil energy income, and that explains why the nations of Europe continue to pursue green hydrogen regardless of the cost. One area to watch in particular is the Baltics, where plans for a coordinated green hydrogen strategy emerged earlier this year among Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.

Over the summer, the plan evolved into the Nordic-Baltic Hydrogen Corridor, linking up with Finland, Poland, and Germany. The goal is to leverage infrastructure and resources in low-demand regions to supply green hydrogen for industrial centers elsewhere in Europe, so keep an eye out for more activity in that area.

Image (screenshot): The EU Innovation Fund is supporting a new project that combines an agrivoltaic system with a wind turbine to produce green hydrogen (courtesy of European Commission).