China: Bright future for photovoltaic greenhouses

There is about 3,800,000 ha greenhouses in China that produce more than 35% vegetable, greenhouse labor reaches up to 30 million. Greenhouse development gives a great contribution to vegetable stable application in China and guarantee farmers income. According to UN statistics, 35% of the annual energy consumption of agricultural production in the world is used to heat or cool greenhouses. In the north part of China, energy consumption for greenhouse heating in winter is about 180 kg of coal per square meter greenhouse. And in the south part of China, 30KWh per square meter is needed for cooling. The energy consumption limits the sustainability of greenhouse production.

In recent years, "photovoltaic agriculture" has gradually become a reality from a long-term perspective and has been put into operation in more and more regions of China. What is "photovoltaic agriculture"? As the name suggests, it is agriculture that involves the technology of transforming solar power to electricity in cultivation. Solar power can replace gas, diesel and so on, get rid of limitation of greenhouse location and reduce reliance on traditional energy. So it can decrease greenhouse operation cost directly.

On the other hand, photovoltaic greenhouse design and construction is still in the developing phase. Photovoltaic panels have to combine the function of greenhouse covering and power generation, and it has to guarantee uniform transmission of light to satisfy the needs of crops' light inquiry. Now, Kingpeng Corporation has developed several solutions for greenhouses to use photovoltaic technology:

Adjust roof structure of greenhouse, especially the lighting angle of photovoltaic panels;
According to the characteristics of solar radiation in different regions, give a reasonable arrangement of photovoltaic panels and glass;
Provide different types of photovoltaic greenhouse for different crops.

For example, two kinds of photovoltaic greenhouses are mainly promoted in the northern part of China: one is a venlo-type photovoltaic glass greenhouse and the other is a new type of greenhouse that combines a modern photovoltaic panel with a traditional Chinese solar greenhouse.

There is still a long way to go with photovoltaic greenhouses in China, but at Kingpeng they are sure that the Chinese greenhouse industry will keep searching for ways to keep going forward against any wind and rain.

For more information:
Beijing Kingpeng International Agriculture Corporation
7th floor, Advanced Material Building, Feng Hui Zhong Lu, Haidian District,
Beijing, China, 100094
Tel: +86 58711536
Fax: +86 587117560
info@chinakingpeng.com
www.kingpengintl.com