{"id":33863,"date":"2016-04-27T13:18:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-27T13:18:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-10-18T20:09:50","modified_gmt":"2020-10-18T20:09:50","slug":"8863-video-down-on-the-farm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/energy\/8863-video-down-on-the-farm\/","title":{"rendered":"VIDEO: Down on the farm"},"content":{"rendered":"

Attaching solar panels to the roof of a greenhouse sounds simple enough. In practice, however, there are complications. What if the panels block out too much light? How do you covert the energy into power for the greenhouse? China already wastes lots of solar power so why create more? And how to classify it – as an industrial project or agricultural land? <\/span><\/p>\n

chinadialogue<\/em> visited Nesi Solar’s<\/a> in Tianjin in search of answers.<\/p>\n

From a distance Nesi Solar Farm looks like any other solar farm, with rows of black rectangular panels that stretch on for miles. But enter by the back way and it feels <\/span>more like a giant greenhouse.<\/p>\n

Agricultural solar projects have been around for over a decade but farms like this, which combine PV solar power generation with modern greenhouse agriculture, are still quite new to China. The Tianjin project covers 1,000 mu (0.7 square kilometres) and can generate 20MW of power. Beneath the blooming plant beds greenhouse technology is constantly at work, regulating the temperature, removing pests and distirbuting water.<\/p>\n

The owners claim that their upgraded, integrated power grid saves them around 10,000 yuan (US$1,539) per Chinese mu (666 square metres) of greenhouse. And by installing the panels the overall productivity output of the land has increased.<\/p>\n