Crop production and energy generation in a greenhouse integrated with semi-transparent organic photovoltaic film

This study presents a simulation model incorporating a crop growth model for predicting plant produce yield and a solar radiation model for estimating electric energy production under various organic photovoltaic film (OPV) coverage ratios and angles at a laboratory-use greenhouse at Tucson, AZ, USA. The results showed that the model predicted lettuce crop (butterhead) fresh shoot weights reasonably comparable to those reported in the literature (150-250 g head^-1). The model also predicted global solar radiation on tilted greenhouse surfaces. The yearly electric energy generated per unit floor area was about 8.9 kWh m^-2 year^-1 with 25% OPV coverage during the cultivation period and 100% during the summer period (1 June to 16 September), and about 17.4 kWh m^-2 year^-1 with 100% OPV coverage during the whole simulation period (1 January to 31 December 2015). It was also estimated that about 49% coverage was sufficient to meet the energy demand at the off-grid greenhouse modeled in this study. It was shown that the growing season can be extended with acceptable crop shoot weights, while also enabling continued electricity production with an OPV-integrated greenhouse during the summer period when light intensity is higher. This might be a good alternative for agrivoltaics application for greenhouse crop production, especially in arid and semi-arid regions.