Adrian Mihai, agricultura.video

Ofrim, a company specializing in electrical and electronic data acquisition and measurement systems, has increasingly turned to renewable energy applications in various fields since 2019. One of them is agriculture. “A new science has emerged, Agrivoltaics, which basically proposes a mixed solution of cultivating the land but also producing electricity on the same area. We are promoting a solution based on photovoltaic systems with hybrid-type inverters, with local energy storage possibilities, but using panels dedicated to agricultural applications, namely semi-transparent panels, whose transparency ranges from 10% to 90%,” explains Dragoș Ofrim, InterNET CEO.

“The company Brite, which produces such panels, is a promoter of a new technology coming from the microelectronics area. Basically, the panels provide specific, favorable conditions for plants so that the sun’s rays can be filtered and at the same time create shade. We have extended our structure by using adjacent systems related to the monitoring of air and soil parameters, which brings the farmer real-time details and values from the system,” the director elaborates. So the farmer knows the conditions under which the crop is growing under the PV panels.

Price comparison

“These panels, being the result of specific microelectronics projects or technologies, if we calculate their surface area and price in relation to energy production, they are indeed a little more expensive, but the benefits they bring and the possibility of providing shading on the ground in relation to the technological typology of each plant is a beneficial solution,” says the director. The price of a panel is similar to the classic ones, but the power is lower, 115W-270W per panel.

Pros and cons

The panels bring a lower soil temperature and increased soil moisture. They also provide a mechanical protection of the crop against bad weather, hail, snow, various weather phenomena, which are increasingly difficult for the plant.

The plant is healthy, it withstands the whole production cycle, it is protected from losing production in July or August, when very high temperatures come in, or in April, when we can have ground frost. On the other hand, it is possible that the agricultural producer may face some effects caused by the presence of the panels. The sugar coefficient in the fruit is likely to be somewhat lower. The fruit might also have a less intense color, due to the fact that the plant is growing in a slightly shaded area.

The fact that production or certain parameters are somewhat lower, 80-90% lower than nominal, is compensated by the increased income from electricity production. Monitoring and control at the level of each cultivated area is also beneficial. “Such a system comes with one thing that I think is extremely important. If the horticultural activity is regulated on the basis of laws or regulations necessary for such areas of activity, the presence of sensors and what allows to measure various parameters provides a certification of quality and the fulfillment of certain technological procedures at the crop level, and finally, in front of the customer who is the buyer and the end customer, the farmer can certify or demonstrate the traceability that he has in relation to his products.

It is very important for us, the buyers, to have on the shop shelves the certainty that the technological conditions are in compliance with national and European Union regulations. This is something that farmers should bear in mind, because such a system with permanent monitoring of the entire process from growing to harvesting proves the fulfillment of quality and traceability conditions that every farmer will slowly but surely be obliged to meet,” Ofrim remarks.

Current projects

The company is involved in several agrivoltaic projects. One of them is a pilot project in collaboration with the Băneasa Fruit Research Station for strawberry crops, but the firm is also developing projects for farmers, for raspberry, mulberry, aronia or currant crops. “The next step is the implementation of a project in pomiculture for cherry and apricot, fruit trees which, at least in the Muntenia area, have problems in developing and realizing large production capacities,” says Ofrim.