SPATIAL ARRANGEMENT OPTIMIZATION OF HORIZONTALLY MOUNTED OPAQUE AND SEMI-TRANSPARENT PHOTOVOLTAIC (PV) PANELS FOR UNIFORM ILLUMINATION ON AGRIVOLTAIC FARMING LAND IN BANDUNG CITY

• Main Author: Christopher Chow, Edward
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/83688
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

The solar energy utilization as an alternative of fossil fuels has increased drastically due to higher electricity demand. Solar energy can be harnessed from agrivoltaic (agriculture-photovoltaic) land which combines both agricultural ecosystem and solar power plant. However, the deployment of solar panels on agrivoltaic land can suppress the growth and morphological development of the underlying crops due to shading. Therefore, the objective of this study is to optimize the placement of solar panels to balance light availability for crops and energy production. To achieve this objective, modelling, simulation, and optimization on a 20 m × 10 m agrivoltaic farming land using four types of panels: conventional monocrystalline silicon (mono-c-Si) panels and semi-transparent photovoltaic monocrystalline silicon (STPV mono-c-Si) panels measuring 1,6 m × 0,84 m, as well as semi-transparent thin-film cadmium telluride (TF CdTe) panels measuring 1,2 m × 0,6 m with 10% and 80% light transmittance. These panels are mounted horizontally on supporting poles above the farming land with the climate conditions of Bandung, Indonesia. Simulation is conducted with input parameters of x gap, y gap, and height in Grasshopper-Radiance to visualize the average annual illuminance heat map beneath the photovoltaic (PV) panels and the energy produced from PV panels. The results indicated that the use of STPV mono-c-Si panels with an x gap of 0 m, y gap of 1 m, and heigh of 4,5 m is the optimal model, providing a daylight uniformity of 0,94 and 0,86, energy production of 11.604 kWh, and an average illuminance value of 28.808 lx, equivalent to Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density (PPFD) of 533 ?mol m-2 s-1. Additionally, PV panels with low light transmittance, such as mono-c-Si, STPV mono-c-Si, and TF CdTe 10%, is more suitable for growing plants that require lower light levels compared to TF CdTe 80%. Keywords: agrivoltaic, uniformity, optimization, monocrystalline silicon, cadmium telluride