The Jeonnam Provincial Agricultural Research and Development Institute announced on October 6th that it is about to be harvested by cultivating rice in the farmland below the agricultural solar power plant for the first time in Korea.
Farming solar power is an agricultural technology in which agriculture and solar power generation systems coexist, and it is attracting attention as a new way to improve rural competitiveness through power generation income other than crop production profits.
This facility was built on a scale of 100kW in Boseong-gun in June of last year, receiving 75% of the construction cost of about 200 million won with support from farmer policy financing.
In the agricultural solar power generation business, agriculture should take precedence over the function of solar power generation, and farmland should be preserved. For stable agricultural production activities, the selection of crops suitable for farmland under the solar power facility and development of cultivation methods should be preceded.
The Jeonnam Provincial Agricultural Research and Development Institute conducted research on related cultivated crops and test-cultivated rice on the farmland under the agricultural solar power facility established in Boseong.
As a result of some recent harvesting of rice here, production of about 80% of the general field was expected, and it was evaluated that the operation of agricultural machinery was not restricted even in the demonstration of harvesting the combine.
It is predicted that an average profit of 13,76 million won can be obtained by adding rice income to the annual power generation income of 12.77 million won at the 100kW class farming solar power facility.
The Agricultural Technology Institute decided to use it to supply farming-type solar power facilities by evaluating the effect of arable land under the photovoltaic facility on the productivity and quality of crops, developing cultivation methods.
Gyu-nam Ahn, a researcher at the Food Crop Research Institute, Jeonnam Agricultural Technology Institute, said, "Income from power generation accounts for most of the income of farm households, but further development and research on cultivation methods can increase crop income, thereby contributing to increasing farm household income."