The fact that photovoltaic panels cover many places in Ninh Son does not make people suspicious, on the contrary, it is also a ‘favorable’ development direction and ‘earning money’.
According to many studies, the land under the solar panels will be deserted after about 20-30 years of operation of the solar power plant. For that reason, many investors develop models to take advantage of this land to combine farming.
This is the APV model – agricultural production combined with solar power exploitation. From there, it is possible to produce electricity, agricultural production and not necessarily land acquisition.
The weather in the dry season in H.Ninh Son (Ninh Thuan province) makes me repeatedly exclaim: “People still want to evaporate, let alone trees!”.
Although Ninh Son is not the only “goats eat rocks, sheep eat gravel” area in Ninh Thuan, it is extremely dry. Perhaps because of that, the fact that solar panels cover many places in this locality does not make people suspicious, on the contrary, it is also a “favorable” development direction and “earn money from the sun”.
Turn against the risk of “desertification”
Through the dust and sand into Tan My village, My Son commune (Ninh Son province), I came to Mr. Tran Anh Dong’s solar power plant. This plant was installed in 2019, has a total area of 1 ha, capacity of 1 MWp, divided into 5 main ranges, all four sides gravel and sand.
The main row to the factory is fenced with nets, under the photovoltaic canopy erected about 5 m above the ground are potted plants grown in the form of hydroponics such as onions, aloe vera, cacti, sprouts… In addition, where It also grows Aji Charapita, which is known as the most expensive chili in the world. In addition to this plant-based solar power plant, Mr. Dong also has a combined power plant with sheep farming in H.Thuan Nam (Ninh Thuan province).
Solar power has grown strongly in Vietnam since 2017 when the Prime Minister decided on a mechanism to encourage clean energy. However, the combination of this field with high-tech agriculture has only been researched and tested for about 3 years. When leading us to the factory site, Mr. Dong shared that when he first started implementing this model, everything was very new and vague, and there was very little documentation on it. But he has a lot of faith.
According to Mr. Dong, a solar power plant with a capacity of 1 MWp needs 1-1.5 hectares of land. As a result, a power plant with a capacity of 50 MWp will occupy about 50 – 75 hectares of land. It is worth mentioning that agricultural land is the main object of planning for renewable energy. If according to the above calculation, the land will be recovered very large. Not to mention, the land under the solar panels will be deserted after 20-30 years of operation.
“This means, if city people use clean energy, people in the countryside can lose arable land, lose their previous livelihood. Then the transition process is not fair and sustainable”, Mr. Dong said and introduced the model: “In order to grow crops below, the house must be built higher. However, plants need light to photosynthesize, so then we learned and know how to separate the panels, creating a slit to let sunlight through. But it is more feasible to combine solar energy with livestock. Normally, the system is located about 5m above the ground, which can raise animals of high economic value such as cows, goats and sheep.
Ms. Nguyen Ngoc Uyen Trinh, an agricultural engineer at this factory, also said that the APV model is a significant challenge, because farming in the locality is difficult because of the weather, land, water resources… Now, doing high-tech farming is even more difficult.
“Under the solar panels, the plants are deprived of light. So if the application is combined with cultivation, it is advisable to direct plants that do not need a lot of light such as sprouts and mushrooms. If after a period of testing and proving the results, this model can be fully applied, local people can completely contribute capital, seed for the factory or apply it for their own farm. Engineer Trinh said.
“Win – Win” Metrod
Mr. Tran Anh Dong also said that developing the APV model would bring dual benefits. Firstly, working on the same land without necessarily acquiring land. Second, the combination of husbandry and aquaculture is very suitable; especially with cultivation, contributing to reducing costs such as when making greenhouses or greenhouses…
“It is worth mentioning that this model is also suitable for farmers, especially when deployed on a land of about 1,000 m2. We also assume that, if 1% of the country’s arable land is extracted as an APV model, besides generating 100 GWp of solar power capacity, it will also create hundreds of thousands of other green jobs without losing agricultural land, do not trade clean energy jobs with people’s livelihoods”, Mr. Dong shared.
At the conference announcing the research results “Building a fair future in Vietnam with solar energy” organized by the Institute of Energy (Ministry of Industry and Trade) in March 2021, Dr. Nguyen Quoc Khanh, energy expert , emphasizing the most cost-effectiveness from the APV model is the “double” benefit of being able to produce electricity, without much impact on agricultural production or land acquisition, and avoiding process-related consequences. transparency and fairness when settling land compensation for people. At the same time, if solar power is combined with cultivation, crops with high and medium shade tolerance such as cabbage, basil, perilla, carrots… will give high revenue.
However, the APV model currently faces the challenge of requiring more capital investment and installing fewer panels (capacity is 0.33 – 0.67 MWp/ha compared to 1 MWp/ha in solar farms. usually, common, normal).
Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Huy, senior advisor on climate change (Oxfam Organization), assessed that the APV model is not a perfect product or a widely deployed system, but it is a great opportunity.
“Most factories are following the direction of full coverage. The investor considers the sale of electricity to be profitable, so it is not necessary to add service infrastructure or a combined livelihood model in the land below the roof. This model needs time to test and give results,” Huy said.
With the question: “Will people benefit from the APV model?”, Mr. Huy said that it depends on the sharing of resources among energy companies, investors and local people. . “That’s why it requires a cooperation mechanism and guarantees from a third party such as local authorities, the law… to ensure that people can share land resources under solar panels. In addition, the people themselves, if given the conditions to access technology, policies and finance, can completely do it themselves on their own land”, Mr. Huy added.
(Cre – https://thanhnien.vn/duoi-tam-quang-nang-phoi-nang-ra-tien-post1434852.html)