Actively-cooled Photovoltaics (PV) for sustainable precision farming with supplementary horticulture Illumination

Abstract

In the midst of Covid 19, food security became a pressing concern to many countries, especially Singapore, as crucial suppliers went into lockdowns, disrupting the flow of food products into Singapore. To cope with this disruption, many farms in Singapore are gradually shifting towards indoor vertical farming techniques, which are energy-intensive. Furthermore, 95% of Singapore's electricity generates from non-renewable sources such as natural gas, which is estimated to run out in around 52.8 years. Thus, increasing agriculture production at the expense of accelerating the consumption rate of natural gases poses a significant problem to sustainability. This project aims to design and determine the feasibility of an actively-cooled photovoltaic for a sustainable farming system utilising supplementary grow lights. The sustainable farming system is located on a rooftop at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU). It is powered entirely by actively-cooled Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Panels, which further increases the efficiency of PV panels by 3.7%. Romaine lettuces were grown over 36 days using the sustainable farming system. It was found that the growth rate of Romain Lettuce grown using this farming system increased by 308% compared to natural surroundings. Thus, proving that an actively-cooled photovoltaic for a sustainable farming system utilising supplementary grow lights can increase the growth rate of crops sustainability without any usage of non-renewable energy. Farmers who intend to adopt sustainable farming methods can consider the proposed system from this project.