Andrew Silverstein

Working to quantify water usage under an agrivoltaics system and study direct impacts to plants and plant yields. Assisting in the development of a research site at UC Merced to study the variation of light levels underneath an array. Incorporating drone imagery in order to track
plant health, heat stress, and crop cover.

My research is focused on the study of agrivoltaics applications in the central valley. This practice of placing solar panels on cropland increases the shade experienced by the plants while increasing available renewable energy resources. By quantifying water savings due to reduced evapotranspiration rates and demonstrating renewable energy benefits, we will gain a greater understanding of what impacts the solar panel shade will cause. My other key focus is utilizing drone imagery to track key metrics of crops as they grow. While drone work in agriculture is not new, agrivoltaics poses unique challenges and requires modification of current remote sensing practice to be useful. Doing so will allow for consistent measurements as fields will not be disrupted by sampling and allow key aspects of this work such as plant health and heat stress to be tracked at a high resolution without the need for an array of sensors placed on the ground. My goal is to demonstrate the benefits to farmers and promote a wider adoption, increasing water usage efficiency across the central valley.