Will solar panels affect blueberry production?

The University of Maine is studying how mounting solar panels in wild blueberry patches will affect income and production. The plants rebounded well from construction but so far show signs of producing fewer berries.

Could solar agrivoltaics help blueberries grow?

Sweetland, like Calderwood, has observed that since the solar construction, the blueberries are not growing as tall or producing as many stems as they normally would have. Nonetheless, he is hopeful that dual-use agrivoltaics could work.

Can you grow berries under a solar roof?

That's how the idea of growing berries under a solar roof with translucent modules was born. "We thought about which kind of berry goes with what sort of light and shade. Blueberries and raspberries are woodland plants, so that works really well," he says. The first harvest from the seedlings last year was good.

Can solar farms coexist with agrivoltaics?

Now solar farms are a small but growing use for those fields. One answer is agrivoltaics – the idea that production agriculture can coexist with utility-scale solar power. Developers of the solar farm outside Lawrence, for instance, have promised to facilitate sheep grazing around and under solar panels.

Should agrivoltaic planners put solar over a farm?

Or farm first, and put solar over it?” If farming is the main priority, she says, then the solar panels may need to be spaced farther apart and possibly be raised higher. Such changes could potentially limit how much electricity those farm fields generate. And agrivoltaic planners may need to treat the soil, Macknick says.

Can goji berries be grown on solar panels?

Engineers in the Netherlands are testing the suitability of raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, black currants and blackberries at solar sites. In China, farmers have been growing goji berries on land where solar panels generate enough electricity to power hundreds of thousands of homes.