RWE and Jülich Research Center plan demonstration plant for Agri-PV

German energy company RWE, together with the Jülich Research Center, plans to build a demonstration plant for agri-photovoltaics on a renaturalized open-cast mine site in Titz-Jackerath on the edge of the Garzweiler open-cast lignite mine. On an area of around seven hectares, three megawatts of power are to be tested in a relatively large test arrangement – compared with other agri-PV pilot projects – using three different concepts.
These are firstly the ground-level vertical arrangement of the modules and secondly the ground-level arrangement with single-axis tracking – a concept that is, however, already being used in commercial megawatt-scale plants worldwide. The third variant is »highly elevated« modules, »with crops such as raspberries or blueberries cultivated below them«; here, too, there are already quite a few experimental and commercially operated plants. Depending on approval, implementation of the project is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2023.
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