Luminescent Solar Concentrator Greenhouses for Concurrent Energy Generation and Lettuce Production in the United States

Meeting the needs for both renewable energy production and increased food supply to sustain growing communities remains a global challenge. Agrivoltaic greenhouses can meet these dual needs in one plot of land, mitigating land competition. Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) benefit these systems by providing additional design flexibility for crop-specific spectrum modification while allowing sufficient light transmission for crop growth. Silicon quantum dots (Si QDs) have received growing interest as a material candidate for LSC greenhouses as well. We present an investigation into the impact of Si QD film concentration on the energy demands of an LSC greenhouse in Phoenix, Arizona through a comprehensive modelling framework. We then expand upon one Si QD concentration and simulate LSC greenhouses in 48 locations across the United States. We demonstrate LSC greenhouses can supply their annual energy demands in warm climates, where greenhouse heating demands remain low. LSC greenhouses can also be as profitable as the conventional glass greenhouse if the crop yield remains comparable or if the greenhouse can benefit from net metering.

Modeling the Agrivoltaic Potential for Land-Intensive Commodity Crops

Corn and soybean farming use about two-thirds of the agricultural land in the US. To accelerate the large-scale adoption of agrivoltaics, best practices that are compatible with traditional farming operations for corn and soybeans need to be developed. In this presentation, we present the development of a modeling framework to explore the benefits and trade-offs between crop growth and photovoltaic (PV) electricity generation for common commodity crops at the county level. Our model couples a crop growth model, a soil water balance model, and a PV model in one integrated scheme. As an example, we consider corn growth in Renville County, MN. The model suggests that there is a ~0.55% loss in crop yield upon 1% shading because the crop-diminishing effect of reduced radiation is partially offset by increased water retention in the ground

Transforming Risk Perception and Fostering Cooperatively the Agri- PhotoVoltaics Technology With Farmers in Five Countries: A Sociological Perspective From the REGACE (Crop Responsive Greenhouse Agriphotovoltaics System With CO2 Enrichment for Higher Yields) Project

The interaction between agricultural practitioners and innovative technologies has emerged as a critical area of inquiry in contemporary academic discourse. Disruptive advancements in agricultural technology—particularly in the domains of drone applications, artificial intelligence (AI), and agrivoltaics—present significant potential to address urgent environmental and energy-related challenges. However, the successful adoption and integration of these technologies are contingent upon robust processes of societal acceptance and comprehension, especially among farmers, who constitute the primary users and key stakeholders. The theory of disruptive innovation, initially conceptualized by Bower and Christensen in 1995, underscores the transformative capacity of novel technologies across various sectors. Nevertheless, the efficacy of such innovations is predicated on their seamless integration and acceptance by diverse stakeholder groups, including primary actors such as farmers and industry, as well as secondary entities with ancillary interests. For technological innovations to achieve their intended outcomes, they must be accompanied by authentic participatory processes that involve end-users from the initial stages. Within this framework, next-generation agriphotovoltaics greenhouses—which integrate photovoltaic systems with agricultural practices and enhance soil CO₂ enrichment—represent a pivotal solution for reconciling agricultural productivity with renewable energy generation. The WP6 of Regace Project. In this perspective, the WP6 of the REGACE project aimed, through the use of mixed qualitative, quantitative, and participatory methodologies, to investigate farming communities’ perceptions of agriphotovoltaics innovations. These sociological processes are intended to accompany the phases and models of agriphotovoltaics innovation from a perspective of social sustainability, with an active involvement of the community of innovation recipients

German Renewable Energy Policies and Their Implications for Local Land Use – Maize for Biogas From 2008 - 2018 in Brandenburg

This study investigates the spatiotemporal dynamics of maize cultivation for biogas production in Brandenburg, Germany, from 2008 to 2018, employing a spatially explicit multicriteria analysis. By combining plot-level land-use data from the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) with biogas pnt information, we analyze the likelihood of maize cultivation for biogas at the plot level and find that maize for biogas accounts for over 5% of the total arable land in Brandenburg. We identify patterns of high concentration, particularly in the northwest of the region. The analysis also reveals a steady increase in maize cultivation, aligning with regulatory changes in the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG). These findings offer valuable insights into the spatial patterns and drivers of biogas maize production, providing a basis for future environmental and economic research. The study highlights the need for plot-level information to evaluate the effects of renewable energy policies on local land use

Modeling and Simulation of the 50 MW Molten Salt Solar Tower Power Plant in Delingha: Real Tower Power Plant Simulation With SAM

As a form of renewable energy, concentrated solar power (CSP) is a stable, continuous and dispatchable renewable energy generation technology. By equipping large capacity molten salt storage, CSP has many advantages compared to traditional fossil fuel power plant in terms of electricity quality, like gird-friendly production and very low carbon omission during lifetime. In recent years, many developing countries like Saudi and Morocco made ambitious development goals for CSP as well as on of the G20 lands, China. The SUPCON Delingha 50 MW MS ST CSP Plant is one of the first batch of 20 CSP demonstration projects in China. The solar tower power plant has an installed capacity of 50 MW and includes a 7-hours molten salt storage system. A model of SUPCON Delingha 50 MW MS ST plant was developed with SAM and a simulation took place in order to calculate the annual electrical output performance of the commercial power plant. The simulated result is only 3.6 GWhe less than the design value. The difference, which is less than 5% between the simulation and design value, is caused due to the lack of information

Hidden Regularity in Singular Optimal Control of port-Hamiltonian Systems

We study the problem of state transition on a finite time interval with minimal energy supply for linear port-Hamiltonian systems. While the cost functional of minimal energy supply is intrinsic to the port-Hamiltonian structure, the necessary conditions of optimality resulting from Pontryagin\u27s maximum principle may yield singular arcs. The underlying reason is the linear dependence on the control, which makes the problem of determining the optimal control as a function of the state and the adjoint more complicated or even impossible. To resolve this issue, we fully characterize regularity of the (differential-algebraic) optimality system by using the interplay of the cost functional and the dynamics. In case of the optimality DAE being characterized by a regular matrix pencil, we fully determine the control on the singular arc. In case of singular matrix pencils of the optimality system, we propose an approach to compute rank-minimal quadratic perturbations of the objective such that the optimal control problem becomes regular. We illustrate the applicability of our results by a general second-order mechanical system and a discretized boundary-controlled heat equation

Preface: Future Power Grids Conference 2025

Our event reliably addresses the key challenges in power grids and serves as a comprehensive platform for personal exchange at a professional level among all relevant stakeholders every year. The rapid pace of developments and necessary adjustments in our infrastructure is also reflected in our daily work. For us, one thing is clear: there is no way forward without open and more intensive collaboration between grid operators, manufacturers, regulators, and academia. Practical and scalable solutions are essential to efficiently integrate the growing share of renewable electricity into the overall energy system. The 2025 conference focused on crucial topics such as the structure of the future energy system from the perspective of power grids, current issues in system stability and grid operation, innovative technologies for secure grid management, the digitalization of the energy system, and the latest developments and innovations in the energy sector. We firmly believe that we can all contribute significantly to accelerating the transformation and expansion of our energy infrastructure. These conference proceedings play a crucial role in documenting the insights and innovations presented at the event. They serve as a comprehensive record of the discussions, showcasing the latest research, developments, and practical solutions shared by experts across various fields. By publishing these proceedings, we ensure that the valuable knowledge exchanged during the conference reaches a wider audience, contributing to the ongoing dialogue and collaboration necessary to tackle the challenges faced by the power grid sector. This documentation not only highlights the key results from the conference but also serves as a reference point for future work and a foundation for further collaboration between grid operators, manufacturers, regulators, and academia

Effects of Dynamic Agrivoltaics on Containerized Raspberry Plants: Results of the First Season

Raspberries need to be protected from various stresses (radiative, thermal, hydric), and the Sun\u27Agri dynamic agrivoltaic system (DAV) could be a more sustainable solution than the plastic tunnels currently in use. Compagnie Nationale du Rhône (CNR) started a three-year experiment in 2023 to compare a dynamic agrivoltaic system (combined with insect proof nets) with a plastic tunnel serving as a control (CTL) in Dardilly (France) using ‘Kwanza’ rasp-berry containerized plants. The first year of experimentation revealed similar cumulative daily light integral between the two treatments over the growing season despite different patterns within the day. The protection from the DAV reduced mean air temperature by 1.8°C and increased mean relative humidity by 7.3% in comparison to the CTL. That improvement in the micro-environment was even more pronounced in the container substrate temperature. Daily maximum substrate temperatures were reduced by 5°C. The number of days reaching 35°C, that is considered deleterious for raspberries, was observed only four days in the DAV treat-ment versus 27 days in the CTL treatment. The less stressful micro-environment in the DAV was associated with water savings of 41%, increases in marketable yields and fruit weight of 32% and 39%, respectively. Satisfactory fruit quality was observed for both treatments. Two additional years of research will be performed to have a better understanding of raspberry performance cultivated in DAV

FDO as an Interoperability Framework for the Biodiversity Digital Twin Project

This conference abstract introduces our progress with using the FAIR Digital Object (FDO) paradigm, implemented through RO-Crate, as an interoperability framework in the Biodiversity Digital Twin (BioDT) project. After providing some background on the project and the importance of FAIR in it, the approach followed concerning FDO and RO-Crate is explained, together with our current efforts in structuring the different digital object types in BioDT, as well as the development of metadata profiles and our attempts at aligning with community practices

Enthalpy of Mixing of Sodium Borosilicate Glasses by DSC Analysis

An easy-to-use method to determine the enthalpy of mixing (ΔHmix) from the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) heating curve of demixed borosilicate glasses of the composition zSiO2 (1-z)(0.16Na2O·0.84B2O3) with z = 0.775, 0.55 and 0.424 is presented. It is shown that ΔHmix results from the area under the endothermic mixing event of the DSC heating curve, but that ΔHmix can also be used to approximate the initial compositions of the boron-rich and silica-rich domains that exhibit the glass transition temperatures Tg1 and Tg2 of the DSC upscans