In the Region of Murcia, agrivoltaic energy is being promoted as a strategy that combines agricultural production with solar energy generation. During a conference organized by the Spanish Photovoltaic Union at the University of Murcia, the regional Minister for the Environment, Juan Maria Vazquez, emphasized the regional government's commitment to this technology.
Vazquez highlighted that in a region with more than three thousand three hundred hours of sunlight per year and highly technified agriculture, agrivoltaics is more an obligation than an option. Research and experimental projects carried out together with the Imida Sustainability Team, the UPCT and the Seneca Foundation are already producing results.
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One of these projects is located in the district of La Alberca and focuses on greenhouse horticulture. According to preliminary findings, the use of solar panels has increased yields by between twenty percent and sixty percent. These panels not only reduce heat stress caused by high temperatures and radiation, they also make it possible to consider new crops in semi arid climates, as Vazquez explained.
Another important initiative is the PS Agrivoltaic facility at the Demonstration and Agricultural Transfer Center El Mirador in San Javier. This thirty six kilowatt installation analyzes parameters such as microclimate and crop performance, providing useful data to evaluate different panel configurations.
Imida is also collaborating with the Enel Solar Park in Totana, which contains two hundred forty eight thousand photovoltaic modules. There, researchers study the impact of the panels on crops such as red pepper, broccoli, artichoke and pitaya.
Additional research led by the UPCT and professor Javier Padilla explores the integration of agrivoltaic structures in vineyards through the Solarcap project. This approach adapts energy and crop production by using the existing metal structures in vineyards so that no shadows are created.
According to Vazquez, the Region of Murcia has about twenty nine thousand hectares of vineyards, which could generate between six thousand and nine thousand megawatts of solar energy without requiring additional agricultural land. This technology is no longer just a theoretical concept and has already become a practical reality supported by concrete data. With the potential of European funds, agrivoltaics has a promising path for expansion.
Source: elnuevodigitalmurcia.es
