- Insolight has announced commissioning the 1st Insolagrin agrivoltaic installation at scale
- The 160 kW project has been energized on a raspberry field in Switzerland’s Lucerne Canton
- It will produce around 190 MWh annually and will be studied and monitored for a period of 3 years
Switzerland based technology start-up Insolight has commissioned a 160 kW agrivoltaic project in the country’s Lucerne Canton on a raspberry field, with capacity to generate around 190 MWh annually, as a pilot to be studied for 3 years by the Swiss Federal Research Station Agroscope Conthey (agronomic part) and the Bern University of Applied Sciences (PV part).
Insolight said the 2,600 m² agrivoltaic installation uses insolagrin, its agronomic tool to protect crops and produce solar energy at the same time. It replaces protective plastic tunnels traditionally used for agricultural production with transparent solar modules to ‘secure efficient energy production’ and crop protection.
The company says this is the 1st Insolagrin agrivoltaic installation at scale that’s been completed.
Launched on site of organic farming entity bioschmid GmbH, the PV installation is part of a project in which 3 different agrisolar systems are being tested with a control area. It is supported by the pilot and demonstration project of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE), Canton of Lucerne (Swisslos), among others.
“This novel installation is a major step towards the energy transition in Switzerland as it shows that there are available and immediately scalable innovative solutions to protect crops, and produce food and green energy on the same land,” stated Insolight.
Earlier in 2021, Insolight provided its Insolagrin Agrivoltaic System—equipped with Translucency and High Efficiency in Agrivoltaics (THEIA) solar modules—for a SFOE backed pilot demonstration agrivoltaic project for strawberry and raspberry farm in Switzerland (see Agrivoltaic Pilot Project With Insolight Solar Modules).
An April 2022 Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) report called for efforts to expand agrivoltaics among other clean energy solutions for the world to bring down its carbon emissions by 2030 (see Integrated PV Critical For Global Decarbonization).
