It might be a mutually beneficial arrangement: installing solar panels in fields where agricultural production takes place could help both the crops and electricity production. A team from Mendel University is testing out the idea in a vineyard in Moravia.

The idea is that the solar panels protect the plants from strong sun or heavy precipitation – which there may well be more of in the future with climate change causing unpredictable weather patterns, says Mojmír Baroň, head of Mendel University’s Institute of Viticulture and Horticulture. "The solar panel system above the vineyard provides shading for the vines so they don’t get overheated and stressed. It also provides protection from hail and other extreme weather conditions.”

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