News

14
Nov

State Secretary visits SUNfarming Agri-Solar Centre Rathenow

Gert Zender, State Secretary in the Ministry of Economics, Tourism, Agriculture and Forestry of Saxony-Anhalt, accompanied by Volker Rost, Head of the Agricultural and Rural Areas Department, and Chris Schulenburg, CDU Member of the State Parliament, visited the SUNfarming Agri-Solar Research and Innovation Centre in Rathenow at the invitation of Christian Knees and Peter Schrum. The government delegation was visibly impressed by the status of the finished series production of the SUNfarming Agri-Solar Din Spec systems.

The politicians were impressed by the fact that SUNfarming Agri-Solar systems, with a maximum height of just 3.6 metres, can be used for agricultural purposes with small tractors, which can be replaced by AI Agri Robotic in the future and blend in well with the landscape. They also praised the patented SUNfarming rainwater distribution system for extensive irrigation under the modules.

In addition to the tour of the plant, the following topics were addressed at the meeting:

- Solar open spaces are currently still 100% the responsibility of the Minister of Energy/Environment. Farmers and SUNfarming are calling for the Ministry of Agriculture to be given a say in authorisations for agri-solar systems.
- Another demand is that agri-solar must be eligible for authorisation in landscape conservation areas, as is already the case in other federal states, due to the agricultural production that is possible here.
- In view of the fact that set-asides (CAP 4-10% fallow land) can also be combined with agri-solar in the future, this will also lead to landscape conservation areas and sites with better soils being opened up for agri-PV in Saxony-Anhalt.
- In the opinion of SUNfarming, it is incomprehensible why land utilisation plans are still necessary for agricultural agri-solar systems. As agri-solar is still an agricultural use, it should not be treated as a purely open-space system, explains Peter Schrum, SUNfarming founder.


Village power concepts and school gardens:

To further increase acceptance significantly, SUNfarming already has regional village electricity concepts where the community receives cheaper electricity. The village electricity concept was also very well received. Just like the SUNfarming school garden, which is made available to the community in municipalities with agri-solar areas of 50 ha or more for joint use to grow vegetables, fruit or for poultry farming, for schools and kindergartens to teach healthy eating.

25
Oct

SUNfarming flowering mixture for biodiversity PV

At the SUNfarming Research and Development Centre in Rathenow, Germany, a flowering mixture specially composed for us was sown under our solar panels with rainwater distribution this summer. This has developed healthily with a good water supply.

Under GAEC 8 (Healthy Agricultural Ecological Status), a set-aside area may only be grazed or mown in September. For this agricultural policy SUNfarming combines flowering meadows with agriphotovoltaics.
Over 40 different wildflower seeds are contained in the special mixture. Among them are various types of clover, meadow bluebell, viper's bugloss, corn poppy, true parsnip and meadow sage. The wildflower component in the SUNfarming mix is REWISA certified (Regional Wild Plant Seeds). Various grasses in the mixture increase forage quality and grazing suitability. They improve soil structure, suppress weeds and provide adaptation to dry or wet soil.

For biodiversity areas with natural species diversity, Agri-Photovoltaic plants are suitable, which are approx. 2.1m at the lowest edge. In general, sown wild herbs should reproduce themselves by seed. Cutting or mulching should therefore only take place after the seeds have set or not at all.

Due to the shading and the resulting cooler climate, evaporation under the panels is considerably reduced. Even between the rows of panels, the shadows cast by the module table counteract drying out. Under the panels, flowering plants develop more in the second year of standing and can flower for a very long time. The rainwater distribution technique has a positive effect; in this area, plants thrive better on light soil.

"From my point of view, it is worthwhile under Agri-PV systems to use a very versatile mix that can adapt to the environment (different shading, different soil, different climate depending on the location even within the system). Not only single grasses/flowering plants should be used. Drought-tolerant plants can be used as well as moisture-loving ones," explains Michael Bleiker, SUNfarming project manager at the Rathenow Research and Innovation Centre.

The wildflower mix produced for SUNfarming can now also be purchased under the trade name SUNfarming B1 from „Samen Schwarzenberger“.

21
Sep

Successful MeLa for SUNfarming Agri-PV

SUNfarming is represented at the MeLa for the first time with an Agri-PV system on a 1:1. scale.
62,300 interested people visited the Mela agricultural fair in Mühlengeez 2023.

"We offer solutions for farmers who want to keep cows on their fields, for example. Then you can put up our photovoltaic protective roofs, which let wind and sun through and protect against rain," says Uwe Brandt, SUNfarming Project Manager North-East Office. "So you can combine livestock farming and energy production and this dual use is also eligible for subsidies. For us, this year's Mela was a complete success. We were able to provide many interested farmers with the necessary knowledge about the products and establish a number of contacts," says Brandt. The response was very positive. "We would like to come back next year and present the photovoltaic roofs again," says the project developer.

28
Aug

SUNfarming Floating Solar Plant on Kiessee in NRW completed

After a pilot phase of 6 months and a total development time of almost 2 years, the SUNfarming group has put a 750 kWp floating solar plant into operation on a gravel lake in Hückelhoven (North Rhine Westfalia).

The system development team of the SUNfarming group, which develops all photovoltaic system concepts and substructures of SUNfarming itself, had already developed the research systems on behalf of the Fraunhofer ISE Institute and the Project Management Organisation Jülich in Alt-Morschenich, among others.

For the development of the floating solar plant for the gravel plant in Kaphof/Hückelhoven, the plant development team worked together with plant constructors from the submarine and shipbuilding industries, among others.

The SUNfarming floating solar system was designed to have the most positive effect possible on the ecology of the water, water evaporation is reduced, the oxygen content for flora and fauna in the artificial water is positively influenced and no pollutants are released into the water. The life span of the floating solar system is at least 40 years. The green electricity generated almost completely covers the gravel plant's own electricity needs at the site.

Yvonne Hensing & Nicole Quadflieg – Management of Kieswerk Laprell Kaphof GmbH & Co. KG
"As an electricity-intensive company, we have been looking at the possibilities that floating PV offers our company for a long time. Our motivation was the sustainable reduction of the carbon dioxide footprint of our high-quality produced building materials as well as the long-term stabilization of our electricity costs. The idea developed together with SUNfarming and the innovative solution offered convinced us. A phase of about one and a half years with a test plant went successfully without any problems e.g. during storms. During the whole project and construction phase SUNfarming convinced us with professionalism, innovative spirit and perfect communication."

18
Jul

Research group from HTW Berlin visits SUNfarming Rathenow

On 30 June, Prof. Dr. Volker Quaschning from the HTW-Berlin visited the SUNfarming Research and Innovation Centre for Agri-PV in Rathenow with his research group "Solar Storage Systems".

Prof. Dr Volker Quaschning is Professor of Renewable Energy Systems at HTW-Berlin. Expert on renewable energies, energy transition, climate protection and book author, LinkedIn top voice with over 160,000 followers in social media. With regular new content on climate change and energy policy topics, he puts current debates into a scientific context. Among other things, the Solar Storage Systems Research Group (https://solar.htw-berlin.de/) is working on an electricity storage inspection and the development of a key figure to evaluate the energy efficiency of PV storage systems.
During a joint tour with Michael Bleiker, the plant manager in Rathenow, the research facilities were presented with first exciting insights. Special interest was shown in the various plant cultures that SUNfarming successfully cultivates under special self-developed Agri-PV systems. Richard Rose and Marek Enzenbach presented the ongoing research project "PV cooling mat" to increase the efficiency of a PV system by means of surface cooling mats in combination with an underground storage tank.

Afterwards, general topics around current and future research projects such as agro-robotics, aquaponic systems and battery systems for the future (base load supply, PPA contracts, balancing energy) were discussed.
The HTW will conduct an interview with a SUNfarming employee about the planning of PV ground-mounted systems. The findings from this interview will be integrated into the study content of the HTW-Berlin, including area design, EEG basic rules, height problems in construction and shading analysis.
Together with Prof. Dr Volker Quaschning, SUNfarming will develop and offer several final thesis topics

17
Jul

Agri-Solar Farmers’ Day in Rathenow

Together with the Brandenburg State Farmers' Association, SUNfarming welcomed more than 40 guests to the Agri-Solar Research and Innovation Centre in Rathenow on 05.07.23.

After the welcome by Peter Schrum, Founder and Shareholder of the SUNfarming Group, a tour followed with Mr. Schrum and Michael Bleiker, the plant manager in Rathenow, to present the research facilities with first exciting insights. After a snack, which included self-harvested raspberries, various presentations followed.

Arndt Lahmann, Junior Project Consultant Agri-Solar at SUNfarming, started the series of lectures with the presentation of the SUNfarming Group and the developed agri-solar concepts on grassland, agricultural and set-aside areas as well as for the moor solar concept for the coupling of the expansion of renewable energies and climate protection/CO2 reduction through the rewetting of agriculturally used, drained moor soils. Interesting details were presented on the preservation of the agricultural status of soils through agri-solar systems in accordance with DIN SPEC Standard 91434 "Agri-Photovoltaics" and the latest amendment to the German Building Code.

Torsten Holler, Managing Director of Agricultural Service-, Trading and Consulting Company, then went into the possible combinations of an agri-solar system with the guidelines of the renewed Common Agricultural Policy 2023 (CAP). The focus was on the standards of the good agricultural and ecological condition of the land (GAEC). Among these, the combination of the set-aside obligation according to GAEC 8 with agri-photovoltaics was particularly addressed, which, according to the PV strategy of the BMWK, is to be made possible in the subsequent solar package in May 2023. The EEG amendment was also discussed.

Following the series of lectures, there was a lively exchange between the speakers and the very interested guests, with many exciting questions being discussed.