A cultivation study looking at transparent solar panels above three ornamental crops will shortly be launched in a Vertify’s research department. Producer BriteSolar wants to find out which crops could be suitable for such a greenhouse cover. “We’re first going to look at crops that require less light or need protection against high levels of radiation, because light transmission is consistently 20% lower than with normal glass,” says Jeroen Sanders, research manager at Vertify. “We’ve set the bar high, because the goal is a 0% reduction in yields.”

The light transmission of the prototype selected by BriteSolar for the test is 80% of the transmission normal glass. “If this has no effect on important crops, it would be interesting,” says Spyros Bousios, Project Manager at BriteSolar.

Three main crops have been selected for the study; chrysanthemum, gerbera and phalaenopsis. These will be grown in two separate departments over a period of 12 months. During this time, Vertify will intensively monitor progress with sensors and light meters, and the studies will be supervised by experienced growers.