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It's a win-win situation. Hop farmer Josef Wimmer now also harvests solar power in addition to hops . Above his field near Au in the Hallertau, solar panels of a photovoltaic system are installed on an area of around 1.3 hectares , which is supposed to supply up to 250 households with solar power a year. It was a challenge and it is also, I think for the future, for my company, that is, that it is prepared for the future
, especially in times of climate change and lack of precipitation, that you simply have a second source of income. Climate change is also affecting hop farmers. They fear even more crop failures in the future due to a lack of rainfall and extreme heat waves. The solar panels not only generate electricity, but also form a roof. This provides shade and ensures that the plants are less stressed and evaporation
is reduced. What you can currently see in other fields. Where there is no PV on it, some of the leaves are already turning yellow from below. The hops are under drought stress. He has too little water. In this case it really isn't. The hops there are green and have a nice, healthy colour. He looks good. The PV system is built at a height of a good six meters. The hop poles have been replaced with concrete pillars that
act as stilts for the panels. A static challenge for Bernhard Gruber. The PV specialist implemented the project, which cost around 1.5 million euros, together with Wimmer . The challenge on this frame is the weight of the hops. The hops are currently - it 's June now, it's not that lush yet - but the plant is getting very heavy and growing much faster . And then there is the wind pressure,
the wind load that we are talking about, in other words, in the case of a storm with a force of six or seven, the pressure on the modules from above is enormous. So that's added weight. The first hop harvest since the plant was set up is scheduled for August. Then you can see how the plants react to the change. According to the current calculations, Wimmer can generate around twice as much with solar power as with
the hop harvest.
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