Controlling PV Panels Tilt Orientation for Optimal Crop Shading and Power Generation in Agrivoltaics

Recently, the merger of agriculture and photovoltaic (PV)-based energy generation has led to the new field of agrivoltaic technology. The baseline paradigm consists of mounting PV modules over cultivated areas, increasing the economic return of the land by enabling simultaneous power generation and crop production. However, the presence of PV modules can reduce the amount of light absorbed by the plants, possibly impacting the final harvest. This article focuses on the interaction between plantations and modules, proposing a novel optimization-based approach for automatically controlling the balance between the crops’ light exposure and the power generation. First, we detail the proposed mathematical model and the arising nonconvex mixed-integer optimization problem. Then, we provide an approximate convex mixed-integer formulation, where the guarantees on the approximation error bounds are formally shown. Moreover, to guarantee scalability, we propose a pruning strategy to remove unnecessary variables. Finally, the results of numerical simulations are reported and discussed, using real-world data based on an existing agrivoltaic plant in Southern Italy.