Agri-Food Innovation
Wavelength-Selective Solar Photovoltaic System (WSPV) for Urban Rooftop Farming
A luminescent solar concentrator film that is placed under solar panels to enable photosynthesis, optimise crop yield whilst cultivating solar energy to meet sustainability goals.
Technology overview
In rooftops where solar panels are deployed for power generation, the available space would be taken up mainly by the solar panels. Hence, rooftop farming cannot be done. If the crops are cultivated under the solar panels, the growth rate will not be optimal due to the obstruction of sunlight.
This technology offer aims to provide an environmentally sustainable urban solution which enables both power generation by photovoltaic modules, as well as efficient urban rooftop farming.
Technology features
This technology features a luminescent solar concentrator (LSC) film with organic dye, which converts wavelengths not used in photosynthesis (i.e. green and yellow) to the red wavelength, primarily used for photosynthesis. This film is placed under the matrix of solar cells, to optimise the growth of crops and at the same time, enables solar power generation.
The existing configuration has solar cell coverage of 54.1%, which is able to maximise the amount of energy that could be harvested by the solar cells, and yet still ensure adequate light passes through to encourage the growth of the plants placed under the solar cells. This complete system is known as the Wavelength Selective Photovoltaic (WSPV) system.
Potential applications
Urban food production with simultaneous solar power generation.
Crop/plants R&D.
Benefits
Optimise crop yield while achieving solar power generation to improve energy savings.
Improved space usage.
Commercialisation
This technology is available for licensing and technology transfer.
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