Let’s take a break from the toxic politics and unabated corruption. The subject I will write about today will likely elicit violent reactions and might even seem absurd and phantasmagoric.
The Department of Agriculture and the Department of Energy, for example, would sneer at the idea of utilizing our vast agricultural lands for agricultural production and renewable energy generation at the same time.
In 2017, I had the rare opportunity to travel to China with a group of print and broadcast journalists from Davao. This was during the first international media forum on the One Belt, One Road mega infrastructure project of President Xi Jinping.
The forum was a one-day event, and our host then asked us what else about China we were interested in. Since railways were of interest to the Duterte government, we asked if we could have a briefer on how the railway network of China began and developed.
Well, we got what we asked for, and more. The following day, we were ushered into the board room of the China Railways Office, where we met its top officials, who ushered us into a huge hall where a giant board displayed the entire railway network, which at the time totaled 19,000 kilometers. The movement of each train was being monitored in real time.
And if the special reception was not enough, our travel itinerary was altered. We were taken on a ride in a fast train traveling at 305 kilometers per hour in a coach exclusively for us. Our destination from Beijing was Ningbo by train and then from Ningbo to Shanghai by bus across the 36-kilometer Hangzhou Bay Bridge, which is an engineering marvel.
And this is where I was awed by the progress of China. I had thought the rural folk, among them the farmers, lived in communes. No longer. They live in high-rise condominium buildings.
The train was speeding by so fast, but I knew what I saw was a vast field of solar panels.
But what struck me to the point of disbelief was the fleeting sight of crops growing underneath the panels. I sort of dismissed the idea, but later I suggested to our host that, if what I saw was real, we could have another China visit focusing mainly on agriculture and power generation, and she agreed.
My interest in China’s utilization of agricultural fields for renewable energy was revived when traveling across Germany last December, we passed by a vast plain, practically as far as your eyes could see, covered with solar panels, but underneath it was green with agricultural crops.
Later, I asked around and did some research. I found out they were growing potatoes, lettuce, and other crops with the solar panels above, reducing heat stress and water loss. Germany has a name for this dual land use — agrivoltaics — and its government renewable energy law has a set of guidelines that support the development of agrivoltaics to “optimize land use and promote sustainable agriculture.”
Having learned a lot from Germany’s agrivoltaics venture, I revisited China’s combined solar power generation and agricultural productivity. It was amazing how, like Germany, China has advanced so far in integrating solar power generation with agricultural production.
They grow not only various agricultural crops beneath photovoltaic greenhouses but they also use the space for livestock grazing and for aquaculture. Why not?
I mentioned the prospects of “agrivoltaics” to former Agriculture Secretary Manuel Piñol, who now spends his time spreading the gospel of various agricultural ventures. His quick response was it would be “ideal for goat raising.” Maybe for his famous range chicken called “Manok Pinoy” too.
China’s and Germany’s strategy of maximizing land use is something our government planners and lawmakers should look into, as this would address our need for a stable food supply and electric power.
This would give farmers more income as they could sell the power generated by their solar farms to the power distribution firms.
I have my reservations, though, what with our top leadership being reoccupied as they are with how to use their power to amass more money for themselves.