Ground-mount solar installer Sunstall has founded a firm that manufactures vertical solar systems for farms and agricultural applications, Sunzaun.
Sunzaun has crafted its vertical solar systems for the expanding field of agrivoltaics, which occurs when agriculture and solar coexist on the same land. Crops are grown around or beneath solar panels, and smaller animals, such as sheep, graze. Remarkably, perks include effective land use, clean energy, and possible water savings due to solar panel shade.
Solar systems for city infrastructures
The Novato-based company stated that its vertical solar systems could also be used as city infrastructure along major roads, next to railroads, and as residences or public fences.
Furthermore, Sunzaun’s website claims that its system is designed to support framed and unframed bifacial vertical solar panels and wires that are managed safely.
The systems can provide up to 0.084 psi wind load on slopes up to 15 degrees. According to the company, its UL 2703 certification – the safety standard for PV modules and panels – is in the works.
Sunzaun’s system can be seen at the Somerset Gourmet Farm, a winery in Somerset, California. It has 43 vertical bifacial modules totaling 23 kW that are linked to a microinverter and two batteries.
Sunzaun stated that Somerset’s vertical solar system aids farmers in certain ways.
“The Sunzaun follows the hilly area of the vineyard over 200 feet and supplies the farm with electricity mainly in the morning and in the afternoon. Besides the provided shading, this vertical installation enables the farmer to move his harvesters next to the Sunzaun. In this way, wine growing and the production of renewable energy increase the efficiency of land use.”
Sunzaun
In a paper published in the journal Smart Energy in August 2022, researchers from Leipzig University of Applied Sciences claim that setting up bifacial solar panels with one end facing east and the other viewing west would generate renewable electricity in the range of south-oriented systems.
