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DOE OSTI2023

Starting with Solar: A Preliminary Assessment of Solar Energy Systems in Residential New Construction [Slides]

New homes provide a ready option for states hoping to reduce energy use, as evidenced by the steady increase in energy efficiency requirements in new home building codes. A less common approach is to specifically encourage or require new homes to produce their own carbon-free energy, through the installation of a solar energy system. Adopting these practices nationwide might significantly reduce new home energy use, but the drivers of the new solar home market have not been well studied. Partly filling this gap, this report looks at historical deployment trends of solar on over 500,000 new homes built through 2020 across 19 states and the District of Columbia, most of which were in California. California is a useful test case because if first incentivized in 2007, and more recently required in 2018, new homes to have solar. The report finds that solar adoption rates at roughly 40% in recent years in California eclipse—by a wide margin—rates in other states, which top out near 4%. The presence of California’s New Solar Home Partnership (NSHP) incentives appear strongly correlated with deployment levels, as do builder market share. The Top-10 builders in California installed solar in recent years at rates almost three times the average of non-Top-10 builders in the state. Interestingly, the authors found the same large builders did not install solar at the same elevated rates outside California, which might be related to the lack of incentives, they hypothesize. The report also investigates the characteristics of new solar homes such as living area (i.e., square feet), solar system size, frequency of battery installations, and use of third-party ownership. The authors also include quotes directly from builders to provide context to the findings.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

The Coupling of an EUV Coronal Wave and Ion Acceleration in a Fermi-LAT Behind-the-Limb Solar Flare

We present the Fermi-LAT observations of the behind-the-limb (BTL) flare of 2021 July 17 and the joint detection of this flare by STIX on board the Solar Orbiter. The separation between Earth and the Solar Orbiter was $99^{\circ}_{\centerdot}2$ at 05:00 UT, allowing STIX to have a front view of the flare. The location of the flare was S20E140 in Stonyhurst heliographic coordinates, making this the most distant behind-the-limb flare ever detected in >100 MeV gamma-rays. The LAT detection lasted for ~16 minutes, the peak flux was 3.6 ± 0.8 (10 –5 ) ph cm –2 s –1 with a significance >15σ. A coronal wave was observed from both STEREO-A and SDO in extreme ultraviolet (EUV), with an onset on the visible disk in coincidence with the LAT onset. A complex type II radio burst was observed by GLOSS also in coincidence with the onset of the LAT emission, indicating the presence of a shock wave. We discuss the relation between the time derivative of the EUV wave intensity profile at 193 Å as observed by STEREO-A and the LAT flux to show that the appearance of the coronal wave at the visible disk and the acceleration of protons as traced by the observed >100 MeV gamma-ray emission are coupled. We also report how this coupling is present in the data from three other BTL flares detected by Fermi-LAT, suggesting that the protons driving the gamma-ray emission of BTL solar flares and the coronal wave share a common origin.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Solar Pathways in Federal Energy Assistance Programs: Expanding Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP)

How can solar best fit within your LIHEAP or WAP activities? Come join NREL and learn about the various pathways and new resources available to help implement solar in low-income programs. Panelists will share results from a multi-year research project, including survey results on LIHEAP and WAP solar adoption across the United States. This session will highlight case studies from early implementers, key lessons learned and resources developed based on stakeholder feedback for interested organizations. Attendees can expect gain a better understanding of the perceived barriers and opportunities to solar implementation, including the importance of partner coordination and complementary funding sources, and the next steps for how to get started. Additionally, attendees will hear from a local implementer of solar in WAP about their program and process.

Colorado↗
DOE OSTI2020

bifiPV2020 Bifacial Workshop: A Technology Overview

The virtual bifiPV Workshop was held in July 2020 to provide the solar industry with a forum for sharing and discussing research into bifacial photovoltaic (PV) technology. This report outlines major insights from the workshop to give the reader an overview of the latest developments in bifacial PV technology worldwide, from the lab to the field. Citations are drawn from this workshop unless otherwise noted. Presentations for the bifiPV2020 Workshop focused on the following areas: bifacial power plant modeling and simulation, albedo improvements, the development of encapsulants, the durability and reliability of current bifacial technologies, performance comparisons between glass-glass and glass-transparent backsheet configurations, the future of passivated emitter and rear contact (PERC) solar cells, and the growing adoption of n-type solar cells. With 650 GW total PV installed worldwide and 1 TW to come very soon, PERC is now the standard PV cell type produced en masse. However, it is already reaching 23% efficiency, the upper limit for this type of technology. PV modules breaking the 0.5-kW barrier are starting to appear, and the costs of standard PERC technology are already below 0.2 USD/Wp. In 2019, five GW of bifacial PV were installed worldwide. In 2020, the majority of bifacial installations are expected to be located in the United States, China, and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) states. N-type bifacial technologies are becoming increasingly viable and have huge potential to dominate the market in the coming years. With bifacial technology mounted on horizontal single-axis trackers (HSAT), bids below 10 USD/MWh will soon be observed in the MENA region, and later in Chile and the United States. Factory audits and reliability testing can reduce field failures by helping buyers to select producers that follow rigorous quality assurance and quality control processes.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

bifiPV2020 Bifacial Workshop: A Technology Overview

The virtual bifiPV Workshop was held in July 2020 to provide the solar industry with a forum for sharing and discussing research into bifacial photovoltaic (PV) technology. This report outlines major insights from the workshop to give the reader an overview of the latest developments in bifacial PV technology worldwide, from the lab to the field. Citations are drawn from this workshop unless otherwise noted, with all proceedings available online at bifipvworkshop. com. Presentations for the bifiPV2020 Workshop focused on the following areas: bifacial power plant modeling and simulation, albedo improvements, the development of encapsulants, the durability and reliability of current bifacial technologies, performance comparisons between glass-glass and glass-transparent backsheet configurations, the future of passivated emitter and rear contact (PERC) solar cells, and the growing adoption of n-type solar cells. With 650 GW total PV installed worldwide and 1 TW to come very soon, PERC is now the standard PV cell type produced en masse. However, it is already reaching 23% efficiency, the upper limit for this type of technology. PV modules breaking the 0.5-kW barrier are starting to appear, and the costs of standard PERC technology are already below 0.2 USD/Wp. In 2019, five GW of bifacial PV were installed worldwide. In 2020, the majority of bifacial installations are expected to be located in the United States, China, and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) states. N-type bifacial technologies are becoming increasingly viable and have huge potential to dominate the market in the coming years. With bifacial technology mounted on horizontal single-axis trackers (HSAT), bids below 10 USD/MWh will soon be observed in the MENA region, and later in Chile and the United States. Factory audits and reliability testing can reduce field failures by helping buyers to select producers that follow rigorous quality assurance and quality control processes.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Queued Up: Characteristics of Power Plants Seeking Transmission Interconnection As of the End of 2020

Proposed large-scale electric generation and storage projects must apply for interconnection to the bulk power system via interconnection queues. While many projects that apply for interconnection are not subsequently built, data from these queues nonetheless provide a general indicator for mid-term trends in developer interest. Berkeley Lab compiled and analyzed data from all seven ISOs/RTOs in concert with 35 non-ISO utilities, representing an estimated 85% of all U.S. electricity load. We include all "active" projects in these generation interconnection queues through the end of 2020, as well as data on "completed" and "withdrawn" projects for five of the ISOs (CAISO, ISO-NE, MISO, NYISO, PJM). We find that the total capacity active in the queues is growing year-over-year, with over 750 GW of generation and an estimated 200 GW of storage capacity as of the end of 2020. Solar (462 GW) accounts for a large – and growing – share of generator capacity in the queues. Substantial wind (209 GW) capacity is also in development, 29% of which is for offshore projects (61 GW). In total, about 680 GW of zero-carbon capacity is currently seeking transmission access, as is 74 GW of natural gas capacity. Hybrids now comprise a large – and increasing – share of proposed projects, particularly in CAISO and the non-ISO West. 159 GW of solar hybrids (primarily solar+battery) and 13 GW of wind hybrids are currently active in the queues. However, much of this proposed capacity will not ultimately be built. Among a subset of queues for which data are available, only 24% of the projects seeking connection from 2000 to 2015 have subsequently been built. Completion percentages appear to be declining, and are even lower for wind and solar than other resources. Additionally, wait times are on the rise: in four ISOs, the typical duration from connection request to commercial operation increased from ~1.9 years for projects built in 2000-2009 to ~3.5 years for those built in 2010-2020. There are growing calls for queue reform to reduce cost, lead times, and speculation.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Network science can improve the sustainable development of solar energy

Abstract The recent emergence of agrivoltaic and ecovoltaic approaches to ground-mounted photovoltaic (PV) energy provides a much-needed alternative to the environmentally disruptive practices employed in utility-scale solar development. Research on such land-sharing approaches has grown rapidly, with an emphasis on characterizing how PV arrays impact ecosystem processes and agricultural productivity. Although these studies have done well to quantify a variety of dual-use solar practices by employing site-specific sampling designs, this approach has limited our ability to synthesize results across sites, regions, and globally. We call for a network science approach for improved cross-site synthesis of dual-use solar research. We contend that a common approach for data collection and synthesis will facilitate a more rigorous investigation of the agricultural and ecological impacts of PV development across space and over time. The products of this scientifically informed approach can be directly applied to improve sustainable land management.

Bacon, Taylor (ORCID:0009000518578569)↗
DOE OSTI2023

Potential Availability of and Supply Curves for Low-Cost, Dispatch-Constrained Electricity

Among other changes, variable renewable energy (VRE) - primarily wind and solar photovoltaics - is achieving a growing share of total generation. High VRE penetrations may result in an increased level of curtailment and thus suppress the value of additional VRE. This VRE, that either would not be built due to price suppression or would be curtailed, can be considered a resource that we define as low-cost, dispatch-constrained electricity (LDE). LDE could be used for various applications which value low-cost electricity and can operate at reduced capacity factors. Examples include electrolytic hydrogen production and carbon capture. This report provides initial estimates of the quantity and availability of the potential LDE resource in the U.S. under scenarios with high VRE penetrations. It also provides supply curves that can be used in subsequent analysis of the opportunity to use the LDE. We modeled several scenarios using capacity expansion and production cost models for LDE prices ranging from $\$ $0/MWh to $\$ $30/MWh. These LDE prices, coupled with low renewable energy cost assumptions, resulted in VRE penetrations ranging from 48-66% in 2050. The resulting LDE supplies range from 100 - 300 TWh/yr at a price of $\$ $0/MWh to 3,500 - 4,200 TWh/yr at $\$ $30/MWh. Increasing LDE prices increases wind and photovoltaics deployment; however, other generation technology capacities do not decrease equivalently in our models. Thus, additional generation is available but the capacity of traditional dispatchable generation is only reduced slightly. The available LDE is concentrated in the central and southwest U.S. regions because of their high wind and solar resources.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Residential Solar-Adopter Income and Demographic Trends: November 2022 Update [Slides]

The report describes income, demographic, and other socio-economic trends among U.S. residential rooftop solar adopters. The report is based on address-level data for roughly 2.8 million residential rooftop solar systems installed through 2021, representing 86% of all U.S. systems. With its unique size, geographic scope, and level of detail, this report is intended to serve as a foundational reference document for policy-makers, industry stakeholders, and researchers. Key findings include the following: -Median solar adopter income was about $\$110$k/year in 2021, compared to a U.S. median of about $\$63$k/year for all households and $\$79$k/year for all owner-occupied households -The degree of income skew varies significantly across all states, but all states exhibit some positive income skew, with median solar-adopter incomes ranging from 131-168% of the respective county-median income for all households -Notwithstanding the fact that solar adopter incomes skew high, a substantial share of adopters could be considered low-to-moderate income (LMI), with 22% of all 2021 adopters earning less than 80% of area median income, and an additional 21% between 80% and 120% of area median income. -Solar-adopter incomes are declining over time, with median incomes dropping from $\$129$k in 2010 to $\$110$k in 2021, as adoption becomes more proportionately distributed across the population and has started to broaden into low- and middle-income states since 2016. -Solar-adopter incomes are consistently higher for systems paired with battery storage, for host-owned systems, and for systems installed on single-family homes; higher income adopters also consistently install larger systems. -Solar adopters tend to live in Census Tracts not identified as “disadvantaged communities” (using the U.S. Department of Energy’s interim definitions developed March 2022), making up 11% of adopters compared to 18% of U.S. households. -Compared to the broader population, solar adopters tend to: identify as Non-Hispanic White, be primarily English-speaking, have higher education levels, be middle-aged, work in business and finance-related occupations, and live in higher-value homes In conjunction with the report, Berkeley Lab has published an updated accompanying set of online data visualizations that allow users to further explore the underlying data. Berkeley Lab is also offering related analytical support to states, local agencies, and other organizations on issues related to solar adoption among low-to-moderate income households; requests for analytical support may be submitted through this online form.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

The geographies, typologies, and trends of community-based organizations for solar energy in the United States

Community-based organizations (CBOs)1 play an important role in developing solar energy in low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities. This article shares the perspectives of CBO leaders in LMI communities, identifies and addresses solar information gaps, and provides recommendations State Energy Agencies and other government leaders can use to better involve CBOs in solar program initiatives. Using semi-structured interviews and focus groups with CBOs from across the United States (US) we develop typologies of CBO structure and function, and determine the primary motivations, challenges, opportunities, and communication barriers CBOs face. We explore the correlation between key typologies such as tenure, staff capacity, population served, organizational structure, and region with the organizational activities performed by solar-related CBOs. CBOs operate in disparate regional political and economic ecologies. Our findings suggest strategies for states to support their engagement in solar-related endeavors, particularly with respect to the dissemination of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Inflation Reduction Act, and the EPA Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund: Solar for All. Developing policies that encourage CBOs to enter the solar training and installation domains, alongside targeted grants and capacity-building initiatives can help maximize community benefits. Furthermore, states can additionally contribute to the positive trajectory and collaboration between state agencies and CBOs in advancing solar energy adoption by fostering a supportive environment.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Grid Integration of Small-Scale Photovoltaic Systems in Secondary Distribution Network—A Review

The relative share of renewable energy, specifically the solar photovoltaic (PV), is increasing exponentially in the world electric energy sector. This is a cumulative result of reduction in the cost of solar panels, improvement in the panel efficiency, and advancement in the associated power electronics. Among different types of PV plants, installation of small-scale rooftop PV is growing rapidly due to direct end-user benefits and lucrative governmental incentives. There are various standards developed in regards to grid integration of PVs and other distributed generations (DGs). Different power converter topologies are developed to interface the PV panel with the utility grid. To keep up with the stringent regulations imposed by the standards, various control strategies and grid synchronization methods have been developed. This review article amalgamates and summarizes all of the aforementioned aspects of a grid-integrated PV system including various standards, power stage architectures, grid synchronization methods, operation under extreme events, and control methodologies, pertaining to small-scale PV plants. This article will help freshman researchers to gain some familiarity with the topic and introduce them to some of the key issues encountered in this field.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

VPP Participation Models: What is the Objective?

Virtual power plants (VPPs) can provide grid services by aggregating and controlling many distributed energy resources. However, their design, operation, level of participation, and outcomes depend on the regulatory and market environments they operate in, DER owner preferences, grid service value, and technical capabilities (e.g., communications, forecasting, controls, user interfaces). Although VPPs are inherently complex, they could enable high shares of behind-the-meter solar plus storage and reduce the cost of electrifying, e.g., personal vehicles and space heating.

demand response↗
DOE OSTI2022

SEIN: Breaking Barriers Resilient Energy System Analysis [Slides]

The Solar Energy Innovation Network (SEIN) is a collaborative research program that supports multi-stakeholder teams in researching and sharing solutions to real-world challenges associated with solar energy adoption. The Breaking Barriers project was selected to participate in the Solar Energy Innovation Network, Round 2, and was led by Groundswell, a D.C.-based clean energy project developer. The Breaking Barriers team included Partnership for Southern Equity, Atlanta University Center campus facility managers and professors, the City of Atlanta's Neighborhood Planning Unit T, and Georgia Power Company. The project aimed to design and construct innovative urban energy resiliency hubs integrating microgrid technology, solar generation, and energy storage in Atlanta colleges and communities. The hubs will help these historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and the energy-burdened broader community in West Atlanta be more resilient, in addition to informing new course curricula at Atlanta University Center campuses. With many possible options for the system's battery size, the Breaking Barriers team needed insight into the relationships between BESS size, economic performance, and resilience at Spelman College's Manley Center. These insights are crucial for entering procurement negotiations with project developers, establishing resilience capabilities that the HBCU campuses can plan around, and guiding the team's fundraising targets. This analysis includes estimates of PV and battery performance, costs, savings, and resilience for multiple battery sizes. In order to provide power during a grid outage, the resilient energy system also needs to be connected to the Manley Center in a safe and island-able manner (electrically isolated from the grid). Analysis of potential electrical configurations and estimated setup costs is key to successfully entering a required interconnection agreement with Georgia Power, as well as informing requests for engineering firms to construct the system. This analysis includes conceptual options and rough order of magnitude cost estimates for electrically interconnecting the resilient energy system to the Manley Center and the grid. The Breaking Barriers team used this analysis to select preferred system characteristics and design for the resilient energy system.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

OPTOM: Optimization of Parabolic Trough - Operations & Maintenance

The US Department of Energy’s SunShot goals look to reduce the cost of Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) technology to 5¢/kWh for baseload plants. This is about a 50% reduction from current costs. To achieve this cost target, a significant reduction in operation and maintenance (O&M) costs of 40 to 50% is likely needed. Advances are needed in the O&M practices of CSP plants if the technology is to achieve the SunShot cost goals. Digitization of plant performance and O&M data has become a new best practice in the world of renewable energy asset management. Owners and operators of large photovoltaic and wind power plants are working to digitize performance and O&M data at their existing assets, to improve their management of the facilities, to increase performance, reduce O&M costs, and lower the overall life cycle cost of ownership. CSP power plants are behind the curve of other technologies on the digitization of plant information to aid in the plant asset management. This project directly addresses the objective of digitizing the O&M data of the solar field, focusing on three areas: 1) creating a framework for sharing data and information, 2) creating a system for monitoring and managing the maintenance of the solar field collectors, and 3) developing analytic tools to identify issues in the solar field. According to the NREL CSP Best Practices Study, the current practice at many CSP plants is to rely on paper lists, spreadsheets, and email for monitoring and managing problems and maintenance in the solar field. The key element to digitize solar field O&M is the creation of a centralized data archive that all users and systems can interface with. This project developed a centralized relational database framework that allows users and applications to access and share data. Conventional power plants utilize Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMSs) to track the corrective, preventive (scheduled), and predictive maintenance of equipment and subsystems in the power plant. CSP plants use these systems in the power block, but while these systems specialize at tracking maintenance on up to thousands of pieces of equipment, they are not well suited for tracking the tens or hundreds of thousands of components in large commercial CSP or photovoltaic solar fields. In this project we developed a new software application referred to as FieldStatus (TM). This is a specialized database program that is used to track the status of each collector and its components. This application is designed to complement the existing CMMS to enable improved tracking and management of maintenance activities in the solar field. One of the major maintenance tasks for solar fields is maintaining the cleanliness of the mirrors. Although seemingly a relatively straight forward task, it has often proven challenging to maintain high levels of cleanliness in an efficient and cost-effective manner. This project developed new tools and metrics for monitoring and optimizing solar field cleaning resources and overall solar field cleanliness.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Avista’s Shared Energy Economy Model Pilot: A Techno-economic Assessment

As part of the second round of the Washington Clean Energy Fund, Avista Corp received a $3.5 million matching grant in support of a shared energy economy project to test the integration of energy assets–from rooftop solar and battery storage to building energy management systems–that can be shared and used for multiple purposes. The goal of this project is to demonstrate how both the customer and the utility can benefit from this shared energy economy model and demonstrate that the electric grid can become more reliable, efficient, resilient, and flexible. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory was engaged by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Washington State Department of Commerce to work with Avista in assessing the benefits of the shared energy economy model. This report documents the techno-economic assessment of the shared energy economy model, including the definition of use cases and applications, collection and preparation of data and input parameters, development of modeling and optimization methods, and case studies and analysis results.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Ecovoltaic solar energy development can promote grassland bird communities

Ecologically informed photovoltaic (PV) developments that co-prioritize PV electricity generation with ecosystem function (‘ecovoltaics’) have emerged as a promising land sharing strategy to minimize ecological conflicts associated with PV solar energy development. While habitat-focused ecovoltaic designs can conceptually benefit biodiversity by offsetting or enhancing impacts of PV development, foundational field research is needed to examine how wildlife respond to these novel ecosystems. We conducted passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) in 2023 and 2024 at 13 solar facilities and paired control sites to investigate avian community responses to ecovoltaic facilities in the Midwestern United States. Compared to control sites (row crop agricultural fields), we found that ecovoltaic sites supported more grassland bird species throughout a 17-week monitoring period between May and September. Grassland bird communities on ecovoltaic sites were also more stable than on agricultural controls, as measured by the Jaccard dissimilarity index. We also used PAM-based weekly species occurrences in an occupancy-modelling framework to investigate the influence of PV development and other landscape variables on grassland bird occupancy. 10 out of 13 modelled grassland bird species had greater predicted occupancy probabilities (ψ) on PV sites than control sites. Synthesis and applications. Our findings suggest that properly sited and developed ecovoltaic solar facilities in human altered landscapes can improve habitat for birds and other wildlife, but further research is needed to understand which species may benefit most from these novel ecosystems.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Chronology of ungrouped achondrites Northwest Africa 11119 and 7325/8486: implications for early evolution of a heterogeneous crust on a differentiated planetesimal

The chronology of ungrouped achondrites provides key insights into the timeline of igneous activity in the early Solar System. Two ungrouped achondrites – Northwest Africa (NWA) 11119 (andesite-dacite) and NWA 8486 and its pair NWA 7325 (olivine gabbro) – are the focus of this study, where their chronologies are investigated using multiple high-resolution techniques. Here we report the lead-lead (207Pb-206Pb) and manganese-chromium (53Mn-53Cr) systematics of NWA 11119, as well as the 207Pb-206Pb systematics of NWA 8486 alongside aluminum-magnesium (26Al-26Mg) systematics for NWA 7325. The U-corrected 207Pb-206Pb ages of NWA 11119 and the combined ages of NWA 7325/8486 are 4566.4 ± 0.8 Ma and 4563.8 ± 1.9 Ma, respectively. Additionally, we report the 53Mn-53Cr age of NWA 11119 to be 4564.4 ± 2.5 Ma and the 26Al-26Mg age of NWA 7325/8486 to be 4563.1 ± 0.3 Ma. The formation of NWA 11119 requires partial melting of a (likely chondritic) source reservoir leading to eruption of Si rich, alkali depleted magmas, while NWA 7325/8486 likely formed from a chemically fractionated reservoir with superchondritic Al/Mg. The clear geochemical and isotopic similarities of these achondrites, combined with the chronology reported here, is suggestive of formation of these two ungrouped achondrites on a common parent body which likely formed in the inner Solar System and experienced early differentiation under reducing conditions. If these achondrites did share a parent body, it would suggest that primary asteroids in the early Solar System commonly produced mineralogically and geochemically heterogeneous crusts. While mineralogical and geochemical heterogeneity is known to exist in the (mostly mafic) crust of asteroid Vesta, our findings show that even more significant crustal heterogeneity (representing felsic and mafic compositions) may exist on other asteroids.

Cartwright, Julia [University of Leicester, UK]↗
DOE OSTI2024

Adapting Agrivoltaics for Solar Mini-Grids in Haiti

With less than 2% of the rural population with access to electricity and almost half the population facing acute hunger, Haiti faces interconnected challenges of energy poverty and food insecurity. One solution to help address energy poverty in Haiti has been the development of distributed solar, particularly solar mini-grids. However, often the land best suited for deploying solar generation is also best suited for agriculture by smallholder farmers, thereby creating a potentially complicated tension between energy access and food security. To address this tension, solar developers, agricultural specialists, and researchers are jointly examining a novel solution called "agrivoltaics." Agrivoltaics is a shared land-use solution that is rapidly expanding in established solar markets like the United States, Europe, and Asia that pairs solar with agriculture, producing electricity and providing space for crops and animal grazing under and between panels. As part of the Energy Access Partnership for Haiti with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) performed an initial feasibility analysis and stakeholder engagement project to evaluate the potential for agrivoltaics in mini-grid contexts in Haiti. The analysis considered typical 100-kW and larger 1-MW mini-grids in towns across Haiti and developed two example agrivoltaic archetypes based on key local inputs, including solar irradiance, production data from the agricultural census, market prices, stakeholder interviews, and existing agrivoltaic research. See NREL/TP-7A40-89399 for the Haitian Creole translation of this document.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗