Cropland and rooftops
The global undertapped potential for solar photovoltaics
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15552811 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Madhura Yeligeti (0000-0002-9643-465X, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V. (DLR)), Wenxuan Hu (0000-0003-1222-459X, corresponding author), Yvonne Scholz (0000-0002-1633-3825, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V. (DLR)), Ronald Stegen (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V. (DLR)), Kai von Krbek (0000-0001-9725-5242, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V. (DLR)) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 054027-054027 |
| Publication date | 2023-04-12 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environmental Research Letters (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1748-9326 • E-ISSN: 1748-9326 |
| Publisher | IOP Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1088/1748-9326/accc47 |
| OpenAlex | W4365137932 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 129 |
The utilization of cropland and rooftops for solar photovoltaics (PVs) installation holds significant potential for enhancing global renewable energy capacity with the advantage of dual land-use. This study focuses on estimating the global area suitable for agrivoltaics (PV over crops) and rooftop PVs by employing open-access data, existing literature and simple numerical methods in a high spatial resolution of 10 km × 10 km. For agrivoltaics, the suitability is assessed with a systematic literature review on crop-dependent feasibility and profitability, especially for 18 major crops of the world. For rooftop PV, a non-linear curve-fitting method is developed, using the urban land cover to calculate the PV-suitable built-up areas. This method is then verified by comparing the results with open-access building footprints. The spatially resolved suitability assessment unveils 4.64 million km 2 of global PV-usable cropland corresponding to a geographic potential of about 217 Terawatts (TW) in an optimistic scenario and 0.21 million km 2 of rooftop-PV suitable area accounting for about 30.5 TW maximum installable power capacity. The estimated suitable area offers a vast playground for energy system analysts to undertake techno-economic assessments, and for technology modellers and policy makers to promote PV implementation globally with the vision of net-zero emissions in the future
Business · Civil engineering · Economics · Environmental economics · Geography · Land cover · Land use · Meteorology · Photovoltaic system · Photovoltaics · Profitability index · Renewable energy · Zero-energy building · Computer Science · Engineering · Environmental Science · Photovoltaic Systems and Sustainability · solar cell performance optimization · Solar Radiation and Photovoltaics
Modelling the global photovoltaic potential on land and its sensitivity to climate change
Developing a Methodology for Assessing Visual and Environmental Sensitivity for Agrivoltaics Land Suitability Projects
Multiple-scale distributed PV potential penetration in a densely populated city
Re-Habiting the Rooftops in Ciutat Vella (Barcelona)
Optimizing county-level land use for sustainable photovoltaic development in China
| Citations per year | 1.67 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2023 - 2026 (4) |
| Highly cited | No |