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Updated: Aug 11, 2025

Fabrication of High Contrast Gratings for the Spectrum Splitting Dispersive Element in a Concentrated Photovoltaic System
Published on: July 18, 2015
Designing plant-transparent agrivoltaics
Eric J Stallknecht1, Christopher K Herrera2, Chenchen Yang2
1Department of Horticulture, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
Transparent photovoltaics (TPVs) on farms can generate electricity and crops. Maximizing light transmission for plants is key, with basil and petunia thriving above 12 mol/m²/day, but tomatoes need more PAR.
Area of Science:
- Agricultural science
- Renewable energy
- Materials science
Background:
- Integrating photovoltaics with agriculture offers dual revenue streams from crop production and sustainable energy.
- Transparent photovoltaic (TPV) technology presents an opportunity for multipurpose agricultural systems.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the impact of wavelength-selective radiation cutoffs by TPV absorbers on the growth of petunia, basil, and tomato.
- To determine crop-specific design requirements for TPV harvesters to optimize yield and quality.
Main Methods:
- Assessing the effects of TPV absorbers on visible and near-infrared radiation transmission.
- Measuring crop growth, yield, and quality under varying light conditions.
- Analyzing the relationship between photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) transmission and crop performance.
Main Results:
- Photon transmission of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) is the primary factor influencing crop yield and quality, regardless of TPV absorption spectra.
- Basil and petunia show acceptable commercial yield and quality when the daily light integral exceeds 12 mol m⁻² d⁻¹.
- Tomatoes exhibit reduced growth and fruit yield with even minor decreases in PAR transmission through TPVs.
Conclusions:
- Crop-specific design considerations for TPV transmission are necessary for diverse agricultural applications.
- Maximizing PAR transmission is crucial for developing broadly applicable TPV greenhouse harvesters.
- Widespread deployment of plant-optimized TPVs could significantly contribute to U.S. energy demand.
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