2023: Designing Research Solar Farms to Accelerate Sustainable Solar Development
Researchers will develop demonstration projects for agrivoltaic systems, which co-locate solar and agriculture. They intend to create an anchor research solar farm on the Cornell campus to enable comparisons among different solar site configurations – a major gap in agrivoltaic research. This project will engage a professional engineering firm to work with Cornell researchers on a practical and innovative design for a research solar farm that serves Cornell research needs and complies with related regulations and safety standards. They will also explore the feasibility of creating research solar farms at various off-campus facilities on Cornell land.
Investigators: Max Zhang, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering; Harold Van Es, School of Integrative Plant Science; Justine Vanden Heuvel, School of Integrative Plant Science; Sarah Carson, Cornell Campus Sustainability Office