More sustainable agriculture: Research base for Mirai Solar's pv installations
Mirai Solar – a spin-off company of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) with commercial activities in the USA and Europe – runs several pilot and research installations in Saudi Arabia, including sites at Estidamah, Al-Rasheed Greenhouses, and Red Sea Farms.
All three projects have a common objective: to create research bases to enable a more sustainable agriculture in combination with PV installations.
Project data
- Location: Saudi Arabia
- Completion: 2021/2022
- Installed Power:
- Al-Rasheed Greenhouse: 8,08 kWp
- Estidamah: 29 kWp
- Red Sea Farms: 21 kWp
Services
- blue’Log X-Series
- System setup in VCOM Cloud
- Irradiance sensors, temperature sensors
- Integration of sensor for photosynthetically active radiation
There is a very favorable synergy between the missions of Mirai Solar and meteocontrol. The meteocontrol system not only allows us to monitor the performance of our PV system but it also helps our customers to predict the amount of electricity savings and factor this into their businesses. Mirai Solar envisions to enable net zero-energy food production facilities even in very harsh climates.
Michael Salvador, CEO Mirai Solar
With foldable, retractable, and transparent solar panels Mirai Solar demonstrates that this new technology can cover up to 90% of the energy consumption of a mid-tech greenhouse without impact on crop yield. The panels are referred to as PV shade screens, specially designed for locations with high solar radiation levels and installed in greenhouses that require a controlled environment and thus demand considerable amounts of power. The electricity generation depends mainly on the shadowing level of the photovoltaic area of the screen, which can be tailored to the needs of the respective crop.
On site the blue'Log X-Series from meteocontrol records, collects, and manages the sensor data that are relevant for agricultural production. In the open platform VCOM Cloud, the operation and performance of the plant can then be professionally monitored and it secures the reliable hosting of data.
There is a mandate for food security in the MENA region, even more so after the shortcomings of supply chains during Covid-19 restrictions. Governments have therefore launched initiatives to encourage technologies with elevated water saving potential that improve food production, e.g. for Agri-Photovoltaics. Since growing vegetables or plants shielded from the intense sun is a common practice in the MENA region, it also benefits from the synergy with photovoltaic systems.
Estidamah is the National Research and Development Center for Sustainable Agriculture, a standalone legal nonprofit research center to secure sustainable agriculture including scarce water resources and extreme climate conditions.
Al-Rasheed Greenhouse develops turn-key greenhouse projects and offers professional support such as related to water saving, integrated pest management practices and biological control, on-farm research and new product development.
Red Sea Farms is reducing the carbon dioxide and water footprint of the Saudi Arabian food sector by designing, developing, and delivering sustainable agriculture technologies for harsh environments. It helps farmers to grow food and cool greenhouses using saltwater in larger quantities and better quality than traditional farming systems and solar systems allows to do this with clean and renewable energy.
