April 10, 2014

Stanford scientists model a win-win situation: growing crops on photovoltaic farms




A new model for solar farms that "co-locates" crops and solar panels could result in a harvest of valuable biofuel plants along with solar energy.

Growing agave and other carefully chosen plants amid photovoltaic panels could allow solar farms not only to collect sunlight for electricity but also to produce crops for biofuels, according to new computer models by Stanford scientists.