{"id":115556,"key":"Solar_photovoltaic_wood_racking_mechanical_design_for_trellis-based_agrivoltaics","title":"Solar photovoltaic wood racking mechanical design for trellis-based agrivoltaics","latest":{"id":1273601,"timestamp":"2026-09-16T14:23:19Z"},"content_model":"wikitext","license":{"url":"https://www.appropedia.org/Appropedia:Copyrights","title":"CC-BY-SA-4.0"},"source":"{{Solar footer}}\n\n[[File:Trellis PV.png|thumb]]\n\n{{FAST notice}}\n\n{{Publication data\n| type = Paper\n| cite-as = Jamil U, Vandewetering N, Pearce JM (2023) Solar photovoltaic wood racking mechanical design for trellis-based agrivoltaics. ''PLOS ONE'' 18(12): e0294682. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294682 [https://www.academia.edu/110327052/Solar_photovoltaic_wood_racking_mechanical_design_for_trellis_based_agrivoltaics academia open access]\n| year = 2023\n| location = London, ON, Canada\n}}\n\n{{Project data\n| status = Designed, Modelled, Prototyped, Verified\n| verified-by = FAST\n| made = Yes\n| replicated = Yes\n}}\n\nUsing a trellis to plant vegetables and fruits can double or triple the yield per acre as well as reduce diseases/pests, ease harvesting and make cleaner produce. Cultivars such as cucumbers, grapes, kiwi, melons, peas, passion fruit, pole beans, pumpkins, strawberries, squash, and tomatoes are all grown with trellises. Many of these cultivars showed increased yield with partial shading with semi-transparent solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. To further increase the efficiency of trellis-based growing systems, this study investigates novel low-cost, open-source, sustainable, wood-based PV racking designs for agrivoltaic applications. Design calculations are made to ensure these racks exceed Canadian building code standards, which with snow loads surpass those of most of the world. A complete bill of materials, fabrication instructions, and proof-of-concept prototypes are provided for three system topographies (sloped, T-shaped and inverse Y) along with economic analysis. In addition, to being cost competitive, the designs can act as trellis supports and be used for irrigation/fertigation purposes. The results indicate that these racking structures have enormous promise both agriculturally and energetically. If employed on only grape farms inside Canada, 10 GW of PV potential is made available, which is more than twice the total current installed PV in Canada.\n\n{{Pearce publications notice}}\n\n== Keywords ==\n\n [[Sustainable development]]; [[Open-source]]; [[Photovoltaic]]; racking; solar energy; biomaterials; wood; photovoltaic; mechanical design; balance of systems; renewable energy; open source; do-it-yourself; grapes; trellis\n\n== See also ==\n\n* [[To Catch the Sun]]\n* [[3-D printable photovoltaic module spacer]]\n* [[Open source DIY solar photovoltaic racking]]\n* ---\n* [https://gitlab.com/go-commons/delftopenhardware/circular-pv-panel Circular PV panel]\n\n{{OS-PV-racks}}\n\n{{Page data\n| title-tag = Solar PV Wood Racking for Trellis Agrivoltaics\n| part-of = FAST Completed\n| authors = U. Jamil, User:Nicholas.Vandewetering, User:Khayibo, User:J.M.Pearce\n| keywords = energy, solar energy, solar power, photovoltaics, sustainable development, Mechanical engineering, Racking, biomaterials, wood, mechanical design, balance of systems, renewable energy, DIY, Environmental, trellis, grapes\n| sdg = SDG07 Affordable and clean energy, SDG08 Decent work and economic growth, SDG09 Industry innovation and infrastructure, SDG11 Sustainable cities and communities\n| published = 2023\n| organizations = FAST, Western University\n| language = en\n}}\n\n[[Category:FAST Completed]]\n[[Category:Solar power]]\n[[Category:Solar energy]]\n[[Category:Photovoltaics]]\n[[Category:sustainable development]]\n[[Category:Mechanical engineering]]\n[[Category:Energy]]\n[[Category:Wood]]\n[[Category:Renewable energy]]\n[[Category:DIY]]"}