See-Through Solar Panels Could Generate Electricity While Helping Plants Grow [Study]

A study shows that plants like lettuces can easily be grown in greenhouses that filter wavelengths of light to generate solar power for electricity using see-through solar panels.

Heike Sederoff, co-author and a professor of plant biology at North Carolina State University says that the team was surprised that plant growth and health were not diminished by the unconventional see-through solar panels proving their effectiveness in real-life application.

Plant Growth and See-Through Solar Panels

During the process of photosynthesis, where plants expel oxygen and generate nourishment for themselves, plants are not able to use all wavelengths of light.

Hence, researchers played with the idea of designing semi-transparent organic solar cells that absorb wavelengths of lights that plants don't use and incorporating the see-through panels in greenhouses.

Findings were published in the journal Cell Reports entitled "Balancing crop production and energy harvesting in organic solar-powered greenhouses."

Earlier work focused primarily on the amount of energy solar-powered greenhouses could produce depending on the design, location, and solar cells used, which could generate enough energy to make greenhouses energy neutral or even generate more power than used.

On the other hand, the effects on plants have not yet been analyzed until today.

To understand the effects of semi-transparent solar panels on the greenhouse, crop researchers grew red leaf lettuces in greenhouse chambers for a month--from seed to full maturity.

All other factors and growing conditions like water levels, fertilizers, CO2 concentrations, and temperature were maintained at a constant except for the level of light.

Researchers placed a control group of lettuces under the full exposure of white light while the rest was divided into three groups, each exposed to different types of filters that absorbed wavelengths of light.

Harald Ade, co-author of the study and a distinguished professor of physics at NC State says that the amount of light on the filters was the same. However, the color composition differed for each experimental group.

Sederoff explains that the team manipulated rations of blue and red light in all three filters to observe how it would affect plant growth.

(Photo: Photo by icon0.com from Pexels)

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Analyzing Effects of Different Wavelengths

In order for researchers to determine the effects of removing wavelengths of light, the team assessed various plant characteristics especially visible characteristics that are crucial for growers and consumers like leaf number, size, and weight.

Additionally, researchers assess vital markets of plant health and nutritional quality like CO2 levels absorbed and the presence of antioxidants.

Brendan O'Connor, the co-author of the study, explains that the team could not find any significant difference between the control group and the experimental group of lettuces nor were there any recorded differences in terms of filters.

Researchers are hopeful that the study paves new roads in solar-powered greenhouses that will help maintain energy-neutral production while being an enticing option for growers.