Animal Agrovoltaics in the beef cattle farming industry: Dust deposition of photovoltaic panels and its impact on power generation

• Grant number: 23/11273-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: November 01, 2023
• End date: December 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Ecology of Domestic Animals and Ethology
• Principal Investigator: Vinícius de França Carvalho Fonsêca
• Grantee: Paloma Albino Ribeiro
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/13456-7 - Sensors for monitoring environmental and biological variables in livestock operations, BE.EP.IC

Abstract

Animal Agrovoltaics combines better thermal comfort, production of animaland renewable energy in the same area, an alternative that enhances the sustainableintensification of beef cattle farming systems in tropical conditions. However, the totalsuspended particles in feedlot pens, besides being a risk factor for human and animalhealth, it can also decrease the efficiency of energy generation by photovoltaic modules,a problem that needs to be investigated. In this research, we evaluated the impact of totalsuspended particles in beef cattle feedlot pens on the amount of dust deposition onphotovoltaic panels and its influence on the efficiency of electricity generation. The studywill be conducted between September and November 2023 at the Animal BioclimatologyLaboratory (FCAV/UNESP), Jaboticabal, São Paulo, Brazil. Along sixty consecutive days,five photovoltaic modules will be cleaned at daily basis in an artificial shading structurewith 21 panels, installed in a corral with 890 m2, where 20 Nelore cattle will be housedduring 120 days. The rate of electricity generation (kW/h) will be measuredsimultaneously at five-minute intervals by means of micro frequency inverters, on thecleaned and uncleaned photovoltaic modules. The rate of suspended particles in the corral(µm m-3) and the amount of particles deposited on the photovoltaic modules (mg m-2) willbe also measured. The meteorological variables such as air temperature, short-wave solarradiation, ultraviolet solar radiation and wind speed will be measured at five-minuteintervals. Regression models using Bayesian inference will be fitted to test the effect ofmultiple independent variables (e.g., cleaned and uncleaned modules, days of theexperiment, short-wave solar irradiance, ultraviolet solar irradiance and amount ofparticles deposited on the modules) on the efficiency of electricity generation. The resultsof this project will bring robust scientific knowledge of how dust in feedlot cattle penscan negatively affect the efficiency of Animal Agrovoltaics.