The EU-funded REGACE project held its second World Café event on July 23, 2024 at the Bio Gärtnerei in Watzkendorf, Germany, north of Berlin, following a successful earlier event in Rome in February, featuring a demonstration of REGACE greenhouse solar panel technology and discussion of its opportunities, challenges and future developments.
The event included a working session led by Lisa Mersmann with the participation of Andrea Volterrani and Marco Serra of the University of Tor Vergata in Rome, Professor Uwe Schmidt and Thorsten Rocksch of Berlin’s Humboldt University, and seven agricultural experts and stakeholders.
Agricultural businesses were asked how REGACE technology could increase the growth of their business, and how REGACE technology could influence the future development of their crop production and improve their business models.
The farmers indicated that REGACE technology could facilitate their change towards electric vehicles and automatization, help increase yields by reducing stress on plants, promote their business’ energy autonomy, help them add new crops (with better shade tolerance), and help them meet Bioland organic farming guidelines for 100% renewability.
Opportunities offered by REGACE technology for agricultural businesses discerned by the experts and stakeholders, especially in relation to crop management, organic farming and green energy, included promotion of the agricultural business as a sustainable farm and attracting workers as a sustainable employer, both helping to cultivate the image of the business. Additionally, participation in REGACE involves low investment risk, participants noted.
Agricultural businesses were advised to already begin activity with REGACE technology in order to build up significant experience with the technology before its official rollout.
Additional advantages REGACE offers farms in terms of their economic viability include promotion of energy autonomy, ensuring provision of energy, and lowering energy expenses. REGACE technology is also less susceptible to weather damage and static, further promoting the farms’ resilience. Furthermore, REGACE technology does not require additional land use, and helps provide shade.
Potential challenges related to adoption of REGACE technology were discussed in terms of corrosion and safety, regulations and legality, economics, technical operations and maintenance, crop management, business structure, human resources, and infrastructural limitations. Agricultural stakeholders also voiced concerns that improper use of the technology could cause decreases in green house plant yields.
Among future developments that REGACE experts and stakeholders identified as potentially improving the implementation of REGACE technology down the road were: integration of AI to improve the existing smart control aspect of REGACE technology’s operations, energy storage solutions, retrofitting of parts, different panel spacing options and increased range of angles for turning the panels, development of panels for greenhouse walls, crop-specific control options, systemic improvements for small greenhouses, solutions for regions without grid connections, sustainability solutions including adaptations in the event of various scenarios in the development of renewable energy sources generally, and cost reduction.
REGACE Agrivoltaics use TriSolar technology to combine agriculture and photovoltaic technology in a unified system based on mounting a responsive tracking system in greenhouses under the greenhouse canopy. The tracking system is driven by a PLC controller that changes the angle of the tracking system according to the plants’ needs.
