{"id":3756,"date":"2014-06-23T14:11:56","date_gmt":"2014-06-23T03:41:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=3756"},"modified":"2017-10-25T10:03:08","modified_gmt":"2017-10-24T23:33:08","slug":"common-sense-combine-photovoltaics-biofuels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/common-sense-combine-photovoltaics-biofuels\/","title":{"rendered":"A common sense way to combine photovoltaics and biofuel crops"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_3393\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/utility-scale-solar.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3393\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3393\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/utility-scale-solar.jpg\" alt=\"utility scale solar\" width=\"600\" height=\"368\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3393\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Why not plant some biofuel crops between those panels?<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Every now and then we like to take a look at what\u2019s happening in solar energy research, weigh the pros and cons and see how it will play out in our wide, brown land. This week we\u2019ve got a beauty. We&#8217;ll look at a novel way to combine (the word is co-locate) two forms of clean energy: photovoltaics and biofuel crops.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year researchers at Stanford University <a href=\"http:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/pr\/2014\/pr-solar-water-crops-040914.html\" target=\"_blank\">announced<\/a> that by co-locating solar panels and carefully chosen plants suited to the location, two forms of renewable energy may be cultivated from marginal lands. Solar and biofuel. The study recommends that the crops be planted between rows of photovoltaic panels on solar farms and would therefore benefit from water runoff used to clean the panels.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Co-located solar-biofuel systems could be a novel strategy for generating two forms of energy from uncultivable lands: electricity from solar infrastructure and easily transportable liquid fuel from biofuel cultivation,&#8221; said Suhjith Ravi who, along with David Lobell and Chris Field is conducting research into the co-location strategy at the <a href=\"https:\/\/woods.stanford.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\">Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The key is the recycling of the water used to clean the solar panels to feed the plants. The panels need to be constantly washed to ensure they operate at maximum efficiency and the ground watered to prevent dust buildup.<\/p>\n<p>The research appears to be no more than applied good old-fashioned common sense. However it appears to have a great deal of potential. This technique will help increase the yield of energy from land where normal crops are not suited. Not only this but the roots of desert crops planted in the rows will help to \u201canchor\u201d the soil and help prevent dust.<\/p>\n<p>Clever thinking indeed but can this be applied in Australia?<\/p>\n<p>This way of producing two forms of renewable energy in the one location was developed at Stanford for arid areas in the United States where water is at a premium. Sounds familiar? As the driest continent on the Earth, the method is well suited to our country. Many of our solar farms are situated in areas where sunlight is plentiful, though may not be so endowed with water. As such, any water used to keep the panels clean should be recycled as many times as possible. What better way than to water plants that thrive in the harsh environment and can be converted easily to biofuels?<\/p>\n<p>The Stanford researchers suggest the agave plant as being ideal for the job though a variety of plants may be suitable for Australian conditions.<\/p>\n<p>Studies have been conducted on both sides of the renewable energy debate to back up claims of renewables such as solar energy vs the production of biofuels. The debate rages as to which is more efficient in the light of the dwindling availability of research and development funds. For a detailed analysis of the debate, see this <a href=\"http:\/\/theconversation.com\/for-efficient-energy-do-you-want-solar-panels-or-biofuels-9160\" target=\"_blank\">September 2012 article<\/a> from The Conversation.<\/p>\n<p>Rather than considering biofuels and PV as competing for the limited research budget, why not think of them as two sides of the same renewable energy coin? Photovoltaics and biofuel crops combined (or more accurately co-located) may increase the amount of energy produced and save on water used. Another nail in the coffin for fossil fuels? Please have your say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every now and then we like to take a look at what\u2019s happening in solar energy research, weigh the pros and cons and see how it will play out in our wide, brown land. This week we\u2019ve got a beauty. We&#8217;ll look at a novel way to combine (the word is co-locate) two forms of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-utility-scale-solar","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A common sense way to combine photovoltaics and biofuel crops - SolarQuotes Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This week we&#039;ll look at a novel way to combine (the word is co-locate) two forms of clean energy: photovoltaics and biofuel crops.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/common-sense-combine-photovoltaics-biofuels\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A common sense way to combine photovoltaics and biofuel crops\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This week we&#039;ll look at a novel way to combine (the word is co-locate) two forms of clean energy: photovoltaics and biofuel crops.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/common-sense-combine-photovoltaics-biofuels\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SolarQuotes Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-23T03:41:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-10-24T23:33:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/utility-scale-solar.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@solar_quotes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@solar_quotes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/common-sense-combine-photovoltaics-biofuels\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/common-sense-combine-photovoltaics-biofuels\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Staff Writer\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cdfada92425341cb1b48bf0bcfa1feb7\"},\"headline\":\"A common sense way to combine photovoltaics and biofuel crops\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-06-23T03:41:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-10-24T23:33:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/common-sense-combine-photovoltaics-biofuels\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":573,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/common-sense-combine-photovoltaics-biofuels\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/utility-scale-solar.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Big Solar\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/common-sense-combine-photovoltaics-biofuels\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/common-sense-combine-photovoltaics-biofuels\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/common-sense-combine-photovoltaics-biofuels\\\/\",\"name\":\"A common sense way to combine photovoltaics and biofuel crops - 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But with the excitement of the AFL final series (just completed) and last weekend\u2019s Rugby League finals, with a touch\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Big Solar&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Big Solar","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/utility-scale-solar\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"solar stadium","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/solar-footy.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/solar-footy.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/solar-footy.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":18793,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/photovoltaics-floating-solar-mb0440\/","url_meta":{"origin":3756,"position":1},"title":"More Aqua-Photovoltaics Projects Operational","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"January 31, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"From fish farms in China to water treatment plants here in Australia, sticking solar panels on top of bodies of water is growing in popularity. Aqua photovoltaics offers a number of potential benefits aside from electricity generation; including reducing evaporation and growth of algae in bodies of water where panels\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Solar &amp; Storage News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Solar &amp; Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Floating solar panels","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/floating-solar-power.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/floating-solar-power.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/floating-solar-power.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/floating-solar-power.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3106,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/will-solar-energy-australia-takes-cue-overseas-2014\/","url_meta":{"origin":3756,"position":2},"title":"Will solar power in Australia take its cue from overseas in 2014?","author":"Staff Writer","date":"December 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"A US-centred news article that made your correspondent sit up and take notice this week in the SQHQ bunker came via the excellent RenewableEnergyWorld. The piece summarised a recent report from by GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) in the US, that reported massive growth in solar\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Solar Policy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Solar Policy","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-policy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"us flag on a solar panel","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/us-solar.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/us-solar.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/us-solar.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":46539,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/arena-anu-solar-mb1839\/","url_meta":{"origin":3756,"position":3},"title":"Solar Research Funding Boost For ANU","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"January 14, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The Australian Renewable Energy Agency has provided a bundle of cash to support three more Australian National University solar research projects. ARENA is contributing $3.6 million from its Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics Infrastructure project, and ANU is co-funding with $0.9 million. Summaries of the projects: Nano-Engineering Laboratory $3.1 million\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Solar &amp; Storage News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Solar &amp; Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ANU solar research funding from ARENA","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/anu-solar-research.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/anu-solar-research.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/anu-solar-research.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/anu-solar-research.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/anu-solar-research.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2237,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/skyscraper-solar-glass-the-key-to-cities-sustainability\/","url_meta":{"origin":3756,"position":4},"title":"Skyscraper solar glass the key to cities\u2019 sustainability?","author":"Staff Writer","date":"February 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Imagine, in a time in the not-too-distant future, when tall office buildings will have their photovoltaics built into their structure. Tall skyscrapers for example will provide their own energy needs through their glass windows and frontage. More than that, the buildings will be pumping clean alternative energy back into the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Solar Panels&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Solar Panels","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-panels-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dye Sensitised Solar Cells","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/bipv-oxfordpv.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":30442,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/hybrid-wind-solar-acciona-1059\/","url_meta":{"origin":3756,"position":5},"title":"Acciona Combines Wind And Solar Power","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"May 20, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Wind power giant Acciona has installed flexible solar panels on the surface of a wind turbine tower at Bre\u00f1a Wind Farm in Spain. 120 of the 1mm thick Heliatek HelioSol solar panels occupy around 50 metres of the tower's surface area and have a collective capacity of 9.36kW. Unlike conventional\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Solar &amp; Storage News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Solar &amp; Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Acciona wind and solar energy hybrid","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/acciona-wind-solar.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/acciona-wind-solar.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/acciona-wind-solar.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/acciona-wind-solar.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/acciona-wind-solar.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3756"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3762,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3756\/revisions\/3762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}