Jamaica's First Agrivoltaic Farm, CASE 50 kWp

Jamaica’s first agrivoltaic pilot farm. Promoted through the partnership of Korea East-West Power and the JPS Foundation, with ENVELOPS as contractor to the JPS Foundation for the procurement, construction, installation and commissioning of a 50 kWp dynamic agrivoltaic plant (contract signed March 2024). Ground was broken in March 2024 and the JPS Foundation confirmed successful commissioning in October 2025; the plant was donated to CASE for agricultural research. A PLC and gateway in the site control cabinet drive the panel angles under SAMS. The project follows the 2022 joint-development MoU between East-West Power, ENVELOPS and KLES for overseas agrivoltaics.

Trial design and first-season results (2026)

The 50 kWp plant uses 80 bifacial 625 Wp modules with a 50 kW hybrid inverter and battery storage, off-grid, on a 3.0 m single-axis tracking structure (angle control 0–90°, design shading 36.5%). In a 23 m × 26 m trial area, four blocks alternate kidney beans and sweet corn, 60 plants per treatment are surveyed, and weather stations beneath the panels and in the open field log every minute.

In the first 2026 season (January–April), daytime irradiance beneath the panels was 41% lower while air temperature differed by less than 0.1°C. Under these conditions kidney beans reached 62% of the open-field seed dry weight and sweet corn 57% of the ear fresh weight: for sun-loving crops the reduction in light was too much. The second season (June–September, direct-sown, same crops) also fell short, so tracking angles and crop choice are the next task. The CASE field team shares records weekly and ENVELOPS analyses them.