Climate assessment of greenhouse equipped with south-oriented PV roofs: An experimental and computational fluid dynamics study

Abstract The present study was undertaken to better understand the effect of the shading induced by south oriented photovoltaic panels on the distributed climate and plant activities in a mono-span greenhouse using CFD tool. The climate behavior during summer and winter days inside a greenhouse integrated with PV panels on the roof and a reference was assessed. Solar radiation distribution, wind velocity, relative humidity, and ambient temperature from the two greenhouses were presented and energy production and plant activity parameters were evaluated. The greenhouse equipped with photovoltaic panels provides more favorable climatic conditions during summer season. Therefore, results of the paper can be useful for farmers in the Mediterranean area to contain the ability level of this innovative photovoltaic greenhouse crop and to perceive if it can perform a balance between yield crop and PV electricity production. Results showed that PV panels can produce around 55 W/m2 for the cultivation period of January. During a summer day, the solar radiation of the PV greenhouse was lower than that of the reference greenhouse and exceeded 115 W/m2, and the difference between the inside and the outside reached 220 W/m2. The annual solar energy of the photovoltaic panel was around 5054.4 kWh. Accordingly, the shading plays a positive effect on plants in decreasing temperature due to the reduced thermal load of the sun inside the greenhouse. In addition, the payback period of PV system was found to be less than 6 years.