Growing crops under raised solar panels

Solarvation is going to set up a 38 megawatt solar energy park in Lelystad. What is special about the project is that elephant grass or bamboo is grown under the solar panels. The aim is to make uncultivable land usable for agriculture again. The park should be ready by mid-2019. 

The solar energy park is an initiative of Flevoland entrepreneurs Luke Bouman and Kees van Woerden. The project is being realized on an existing building block of the former Waiboerhoeve experimental farm. The entrepreneurs do this in collaboration with Wageningen University, the municipality of Lelystad, the Province of Overijssel and Aeres Hogeschool. 

Setup with subculture
A total investment of approximately €30 million is required for the solar park. Approximately 140.000 solar panels will be installed for this purpose. The total setup takes up about 20 hectares. Luke Bouwman: "This is the building block of the former experimental station. It is therefore not agricultural land." 

Solar panels are normally oriented to the south, but an east-west arrangement is being built at this location. The purpose of this setup is to use a subculture. The solar collectors are therefore placed elevated. Elephant grass or bamboo is grown under the panels. Which crop it will be depends on the outcome of the research by Aeres University of Applied Sciences. Luke Bouwman: "We want to show that multiple functions are possible together."

Back to farmland
Bouwman also wants to investigate whether growing elephant grass on land on which old buildings once stood can be converted back into agricultural land. Bouwman: "On land on which buildings have stood for years, potatoes really don't just grow again. By cultivating undercrops, we want to ensure that the soil can be used again as agricultural land in a few years' time."

Starts in January
The environmental permit for the project has now been granted by the municipality of Lelystad. The park is expected to meet the energy needs of 25.000 households in the future. Bouwman wants to make use of the SDE+ subsidy. This application will take approximately 8 weeks.

The demolition of the buildings will start in January 2018, which is expected to take six months. The first solar panels should be installed at the end of 2018 and the park should be ready by mid-2019.

Growing
The intention is that the solar energy park will generate a maximum of 38 megawatts of electricity. The municipality of Flevoland aims to be energy neutral by 2023. Solarvation contributes to this by supplying 25.000 households with electricity. "That is quite a contribution," says Bouman.

Existing buildings will also be sustainably demolished. Asbestos is safely removed and concrete recycled. "Sustainability starts with yourself. I think green entrepreneurship is extremely important."

Lecturer in sustainable land
The project ties in with the new study Sustainable farmyard by Aeres Hogeschool in Dronten. Luke Bouman: "We are doing this lectorate together. Research is being done here into how the integration into the landscape can be improved. In this lectorate we want to investigate what is possible to make the demolition, remediation and installation of solar panels as nationally as possible. We try to do that by dividing the surface and using yard plants." In addition to this company, Bouwman also has a landscaping company. 

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