Conceptual Design and Rationale for an Interdependent Farm Machinery-Agrivoltaics Based Peer-to-Peer Concept in line with Circular Economy to Mitigate Smog Problem in Northern India

The rise in air pollution is not just confined to the capital city of India; it extends to a large swath of land known as the Indo-Gangetic Plain. In a recent emergency, the witnessed Air Quality Index (AQI) hovered around 530, more than ten times the safe value, i.e., 50. With immediate attention, the Environment Pollution Authority of the National Capital Region declared a public health emergency "as air pollution is now hazardous and will have adverse health impacts on all". Based on the literature, this problem has been attributed to multiple factors typically falling under numerous industrial sectors. Since then, numerous attempts have been made to find an appropriate solution, but there is no way ahead. Hence with a deep intention to solve the smog problem, we propose the interdependent farm machinery-Agrivoltaics based peer-to-peer shared business practice that co-produces food and energy along with sustainable feedstock. The co-production of solar energy and food through the Agrivoltaics system is still under research and offers numerous innovative designs, and allows the shared use of land. On the other hand, the Agrivoltaics acts as a power source for farm machinery that removes the leftover stubble after the harvest. One such Agrivoltaics system design considering the energy intensiveness of shared economy business practice is modelled and simulated for India's North region. This study's results include the solar energy production potentials using the proposed Agrivoltaics system, crop yields, and sustainable feedstock. Besides these, sustainable value creation benefits using the proposed interdependent farm machinery-Agrivoltaics based peer-to-peer shared business model are explored. The study is further extended on mapping with the relevant United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs), discussing the challenges and future research possibilities. Overall, if implemented, the proposed shared business model in line with circular economy principles could promote feedstock recovery instead of open burning and a sustainable Agrivoltaics economy.