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On the 15th and 16th of February, the launch meeting for the Smart PVwine project - Advanced PV system and intelligent management for the improvement of wine production - took place in Ciudad Real. The consortium consists of Leitat, ISFOC, Sensing & Control, and the University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM). The first steps to follow were agreed upon during the meeting, and working teams for each project task were created.

The Smart PVwine project focuses on studying the impact of AgroVoltaics (AV) on one of Spain's most representative crops, the vine for wine production.

The project's objective is to develop a novel AV system to promote the generation of photovoltaic solar energy in harmony with agricultural activity and, in turn, improve agricultural production in Spain's largest wine-producing region, Castilla La Mancha. This system is based on new photovoltaic modules adapted for managing sunlight through additive manufacturing lenses and spectral management diffusers. Additionally, monitoring sensors are included to optimize the use of the solar resource between electricity generation and agricultural production. The entire system will be adapted to optimal cultivation conditions.

Leitat's role within the project will focus on developing robust optical components to be integrated into the photovoltaic modules, which will allow light diffusion over the crop fields. These optical components will be adaptable to current and future solar panels, seeking the optimal relationship between panel surface/cultivation surface.

ISFOC will be responsible for implementing AV technologies in the crops. On the one hand, it will design and develop lightweight semi-transparent PV modules and PV modules for integration with optical elements, and on the other, it will develop the support structure for AV systems that will allow light management over the crops with an innovative solar tracking concept according to the needs of the crops.

The Higher Technical School of Agricultural Engineers (ETSIA) of Ciudad Real, belonging to the UCLM, aims to research the effect of the AV system on the vineyard, with the goal of achieving quality production while minimizing environmental impact. Their main task will be to define an integral agricultural control strategy, covering tasks from the vineyard to the continuous monitoring of key variables such as evapotranspiration, vegetation indices, pests and diseases, yield, and grape quality, among other relevant aspects.

Sensing & Control, for its part, will focus its research on maximizing the productivity of the installation, both from an energy and crop perspective, using data collected by a sensor network and algorithms based on artificial intelligence.

The project is funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation through public aid for public-private collaboration projects, from the State Program to promote Scientific-Technical Research and its Transfer, within the State Plan for Scientific, Technical, and Innovation Research 2021-2023, within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan.

File ID number: CPP2021-008721