Western Innovation for Renewable Energy Deployment (WIRED)

WIRED at sunrise

To continue accelerating cost declines in the solar photovoltaic (PV) industry and take advantage of the opportunities of an open source approach, four novel objectives are targeted: 1) improve PV system performance with low-concentration reflectors without negating warranties, 2) develop PV systems for agriculture that farmers can deploy themselves, 3) use distributed recycling and additive manufacturing (DRAM) to cut PV racking costs, and 4) utilize flexible PV to eliminate the need for conventional racking all together. To do this we established the first completely open source outdoor PV testing center to meet these objectives: Western Innovation for Renewable Energy Deployment (WIRED). WIRED is a project focusing on agrivoltaics primarily in a partnership between the Ivey Business School and Western Engineering.

Using heavily monitored and wired PV systems, WIRED will explore new ways of radically reducing the costs of PV systems while improving their functionality by using open source racking and enabling PV to provide more value than using only green electricity. The ten sub-PV systems making up the heart of the proposed infrastructure will be large enough to act as industrially relevant proof-of-concepts and to obtain statistical data on performance of individually-monitored PV modules. WIRED will be completely open source, including the requested infrastructure for prototyping, monitoring, and the results, making it not only unique globally, but also well positioned to reduce PV system costs and accelerate PV deployment in Canada. The PV industry system designers and developers will be the primary users of the research outcomes although it will also be used by SMEs looking to minimize installation costs of PV.

Dr. Joshua Pearce discussing agrivoltaics.

WIRED, comprising about 1 hectare of area, will be located in Western's Field Station. The 33-hectare site features a 4-hectare area of intensively managed research plots and is a member of the Canadian Micro-Pulse Lidar Network, both of which will be leveraged for the agrivoltaic trials that are part of this research for time trials and long-term highly-monitored performance testing. The PV-generated electricity from the system will be fed into Western's Institute for Chemicals and Fuels from Alternative Resources (ICFAR) to provide a portion of the energy needs while complimenting their mission. Dr. Pearce's WIRED research program not only ties together two of Western's major research initiatives (WindEEE and ICFAR), but it is well aligned with one of Western University's signature research areas on Environmental Sustainability and Green Energy, and Western Engineering's research theme of Sustainability, Environment, Resiliency & Adaptive Systems.

WIRED also includes an agrivoltaic agrotunnel.

Met data we want

The first and foremost step to be taken in the feasibility assessment of PV modules, the long-term monitoring, their failure analysis for reliability studies and thereby providing useful testing standards for designers is to obtain local meteorological data, namely ambient temperature and pressure, wind speed and direction, relative humidity, dew point temperature, precipitation patterns, cloud cover, etc. These data have been aggregated from different sites all around the world and are available on various authentic data sources and websites.

Data availability on site

Weather Data from London Airport

Canada Weather Data

Weather Dashboard for London

Data/Parameters/Variables Planned to be monitored at WIRED

  • Surface temperature of PV modules and micro climate under the panels through IR camera and temperature sensors
  • Imaging of crops for AI/CV monitoring through a normal camera
  • Power generated through PV modules through power sensors
  • Strain gauge measurements for PV racking systems through strain gauges
  • Soil moisture through moisture sensors
  • Humidity measurements for the climate under the PV panels through humidity sensors
  • Soil pH monitoring through pH sensors
  • Irradiance measurements through pyranometers and spectrometers
  • Weather monitoring such as wind speed, temperature, humidity etc. through a MET station
  • Aerosol measurements
    • https://aeronet.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/data_display_aod_v3
    • https://www.uwo.ca/sci/mplcan/
  • PAR measurements through PAR sensor
  • Apogee online calculator for PAR (clear sky) - https://clearskycalculator.com/quantumsensor.htm

Agrivoltaic Greenhouses

Agrivoltaics Racks

Agrivoltaics


The Western Innovation for Renewable Energy (WIRED) system is currently under construction to test out new open source methods to reduce PV systems costs and enable novel forms of agrivoltaics including the world's first agrivoltaic agrotunnel.

Services provided by agrivoltaics are: renewable electricity generation, decreased green-house gas emissions, reduced climate change, increased crop yield, plant protection from excess solar energy, plant protection from inclement weather such as hail, water conservation, agricultural employment, local food, improved health from pollution reduction increased revenue for farmers, a hedge against inflation, the potential to produce nitrogen fertilizer on farm, on farm production of renewable fuels such as anhydrous ammonia or hydrogen, and electricity for EV charging for on- or off-farm use.
Agrivoltaics Canada - What is Agrivoltaics

In the News

From: Financial Analysis of Agrivoltaic Sheep: Breeding and Auction Lamb Business Models

  1. Raising sheep for grazing under solar panels makes everyone clean, green money - Western News
  2. Sheep Grazing Under Solar Panels Yields Green Profits Mirage News
  3. Agrivoltaics paired with sheep production makes nearly 100% of land grazable TechXplore
  4. Agrivoltaics paired with sheep production makes nearly 100% of land grazable MSN
  5. Grazing ’solar’ sheep offer lucrative solution for farmers My Science
  6. Global Renwable News
  7. Rinnovabili
  8. Education News Canada
  9. How agrivoltaics and “solar” sheep are redefining profitable farming in Canada PV Buzz
  10. Nature’s best lawnmower: How solar grazing is changing the photovoltaic landscape Euronews
    1. Yahoo NewZealand
    2. Bundle
    3. Photos: Sheep grazing boosts solar farms and soil health in the US and Europe Interesting Engineering
  11. O melhor cortador de relva da natureza: como o pastoreio solar está a mudar a paisagem fotovoltaica EuroNews
  12. La meilleure tondeuse à gazon de la nature : comment le pâturage solaire change le paysage photovoltaïque - Observatoiredeleurope
  13. Solar sheep grazing under agrivoltaic arrays can maximise land use News9
  14. El mejor cortacésped natural: ¿Cómo el pastoreo solar está cambiando el panorama fotovoltaico? Yahoo Spain
  15. ‘Solar shepherds’ earn big by grazing sheep on solar farms — and they benefit everyone involved Modern Science
  16. Sheep farmers are crazy about solar power plants: “Salaries are higher than lawyers” Central asia Climate Portal
  17. Researchers make unexpected discovery about sheep raised in nontraditional environment: 'There is an enormous opportunity' The Cool Down
    1. MSN
  18. ‘Solar shepherds’ earn big by grazing sheep on solar farms — and they benefit everyone involved The Conversation
    1. Yahoo News
    2. Down to Earth
    3. Renew Economy
    4. Inkl
    5. The National Tribune (Australia)
    6. Winnipeg Free Press
    7. Morning Ag Clips
    8. The 14
    9. ATTRA NCAT
    10. OSU
  19. Får och solparker - en vinst för både lantbruk, får och klimat Energinyheter (se)
  20. Researchers make unexpected discovery about sheep raised in nontraditional environment: 'There is an enormous opportunity' Yahoo
  21. Une étude révèle un duo gagnant : moutons et panneaux solaires, “un potentiel immense” Le Energeek
  22. ‘Farming Sunshine’ Brings Food, Power Producers Together for Local Baaa-nefit The Energy Mix
  23. Bùng nổ ngành nông nghiệp quang điện Saigon Online

System designs

  • The optimal tilt angle for PV in London Ontario is 34°
  • each 1kW is ~ 1280 kWh annually in London.

Open Source Photovoltaic Racking Approaches


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