Fundusol
Fundusol is working to reduce the burdens facing American farmers through a data-driven approach to Agrivoltaics–the co-location of crops and solar panels. This practice has proven successful in research and commercial trials: studies proving increased crop yield and water-use efficiency for crops grown under solar arrays have translated into over 2900MW of Agrivoltaics installed globally. While the Agrivoltaic industry holds the potential for massive growth, most developers are not equipped to design a photovoltaic system for agricultural colocation. To this end, Fundusol has developed an Agrivoltaic simulation algorithm that designs the optimal system, both in terms of electricity and agricultural performance, for any location and any crop profile. This will allow them to add value not only to farms looking to save on expensive energy bills, but also to solar developers looking to ease the permitting process in agricultural regions and add an extra revenue stream to projects. Fundusol aims to build Agrivoltaics systems for as many farms as possible and provide solar developers with the Agrivoltaics expertise necessary to apply the practice to utility-scale solar projects.
Team Members
Michael Bendok (BS Econ, BS Data Science), Esteban Herrera-Vendrell (BS Math, BS Physics), Peter Westbrook (BS Math, BS CS), Luca Borletti (Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science) and Prof. Adam Brandt (PI/ESE)