PROJECT DETAILS

Brief Description
 

The name of this InSIC pilot project, implemented by the Arka Renewable Energy College and led by Kapil Bharan Bhowmik and Susanta Karmakar, emphasizes the use of the new technology to support urban rooftop cultivation and the conservation of East Kolkata wetlands, because of their importance for nature conservation and for the people living in the Greater Kolkata region.

However, the key innovation of the project – if succesfull – can be adopted for use in all kinds of agricultural lands, practically everywhere on the planet, and not only wetlands and rooftops.

The core innovation is the fabrication of custom glass-to-glass solar modules where the interstitial gaps between solar cells are filled with a transparent, light-dispersing material. This design is engineered to allow a significant and photosynthetically useful fraction of sunlight to pass through to the crops below, something conventional panels cannot do.

To develop and validate this technology in a controlled, cost-effective, and non-disruptive manner, the project will first build a replicable prototype on a rooftop. This prototype will integrate the novel panels with a hydroponic system, which simulates the agricultural component and allows for precise monitoring. This approach allows the Arka Renewable Energy College to perfect the technology before proposing it for sensitive wetlands or other agro-ecosystems.

The project aims to develop and fabricate a prototype of a novel glass-to-glass solar PV-based system with transparent infill, designed to maximise Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) transmission.  The project will also evaluate the prototype's dual performance, meaning its energy yield and thermal characteristics, and its light transmission efficacy for supporting plant growth.

In wetlands and other agricultural lands co-production of food and solar power can both reduce the evaporation of water and the need of water by the crops by reducing the temperature of the surface soil and air.  In well-designed systems the production of food can already now increase substantially. However, if the project will succeed in developing a system in which the electricity-producing elements are placed between two transparent glasses, it multiplies the theoretical possibilities of agro-voltaics designs.

 

Project budjet: 4550 euros