Energy nexusPub Date : 2025-08-24DOI: 10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100516
Erlend Hustad Honningdalsnes , Erik Stensrud Marstein , Dag Lindholm , Helge Bonesmo , Heine Nygard Riise
{"title":"Wind sheltering in vertical agrivoltaics can increase crop yields: A modeling study for Northern Europe","authors":"Erlend Hustad Honningdalsnes , Erik Stensrud Marstein , Dag Lindholm , Helge Bonesmo , Heine Nygard Riise","doi":"10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100516","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100516","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Vertical agrivoltaics can help reduce land use competition by integrating food crop cultivation between rows of vertical solar panels. However, its agricultural viability is often questioned due to panel shading. This study demonstrates that wind sheltering from vertical solar panels not only can compensate for the shading losses but lead to net-positive yield changes in Northern Europe. Crops benefit from wind shelter through improved soil moisture retention, higher ambient temperatures, and protection from wind erosion and damage. This study quantified the combined shading and wind sheltering effects on timothy grass (<em>Phleum pratense</em> L.) yields within large-scale vertical agrivoltaics across Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Our modeling framework integrated ERA5 weather data (2010–2023), Computational Fluid Dynamics for wind simulation (OpenFOAM), ray tracing for shading analysis (Honeybee Radiance), and a crop growth simulation model (CATIMO). Additionally, ERA5 temperature data was adjusted to explore shelter-induced warming effects. In the simulation, vertical agrivoltaics decreased ground irradiation by 15–16 % and reduced seasonal mean crop zone wind speeds by up to 40 % (up to 88 % for perpendicular winds), lowering evapotranspiration. When combining shading, wind reduction, and a conservative +0.5 °C shelter-induced temperature increase, the model predicted an average regional yield increase of +2.4 % compared to traditional agriculture. Yield improvements were highest in drought-prone soils (+3.7 %) and dry, sunny years (e.g., +9.2 % in 2018). This suggests that vertical agrivoltaics improves agricultural resilience under challenging conditions. These findings demonstrate that agrivoltaic modeling, particularly for vertical systems, should incorporate wind shelter effects to avoid fundamentally underestimating crop yield potential.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":93548,"journal":{"name":"Energy nexus","volume":"19 ","pages":"Article 100516"},"PeriodicalIF":9.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144903050","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Energy nexusPub Date : 2025-08-24DOI: 10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100524
Abdur Rauf , Wahid Ullah , Ashfaq Ahmad Shah , Bader Alhafi Alotaibi
{"title":"Shaping sustainable futures: How economic policies and government effectiveness drive environmental sustainability in emerging economies","authors":"Abdur Rauf , Wahid Ullah , Ashfaq Ahmad Shah , Bader Alhafi Alotaibi","doi":"10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100524","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100524","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Studying global environmental concerns is essential to understand the challenges posed by climate change. It equips individuals and policy makers with the knowledge to develop sustainable solutions and promote responsible behavior. Against this backdrop, we evaluated the role of economic policies (monetary policy and fiscal policy), government effectiveness, per capita gross domestic product, urbanization, alternative energy technology use, and access to energy within the extended IPAT model to sustain economic development and environmental quality across seven emerging economies. Fully Modified Ordinary Least Square, Driscoll-Kraay Standard Errors, Panel Corrected Standard Errors and co-integration tests were applied to extract the outcomes for the period from 2001 to 2022. Our results concluded that at individual levels and in an interaction with government effectiveness, the outcomes of economic policies are mixed. Where, real interest rate and tax revenue, individually ensure environmental sustainability but deteriorate environmental quality in the presence of government effectiveness. Money supply and government expenditure both individually and in interaction with government effectiveness discourage environmental quality in E-7 economies. the individual role of government effectiveness shows that the government of E-7 economies are inefficient in curtailing carbon emission to ensure sustainable environment. Technological progress and urbanization contribute to ensure environment quality while increased energy access, and per capita gross domestic product degrade environmental sustainability. Moreover, bidirectional causality runs money supply and government expenditure to carbon emissions, while unidirectional causality is found between government effectiveness and CO<sub>2</sub> emissions. However, no causality is found between real interest rate and carbon emissions. Policymakers are needed to integrate environmental regulations into economic policies to ensure government effectiveness improve, rather than undermines, their carbon-reducing potential. Moreover, tax revenue and interest rates need targeted framework to maintain their benefits even as government effectiveness of the E-7 economies improves.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":93548,"journal":{"name":"Energy nexus","volume":"19 ","pages":"Article 100524"},"PeriodicalIF":9.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144907359","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Energy nexusPub Date : 2025-08-24DOI: 10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100529
Mohamed E. Zayed , Kashif Irshad , Shafiqur Rehman , A.E. Kabeel , Mohammed El Hadi Attia , A.S. Abdelrazik , Abdelkrim Khelifa , Mohamed Abdelgaied , Mohamed A. Mohandes , Salem Algarni , Talal Alqahtani
{"title":"Performance appraisal of a modified finned solar air collector thermally assisted by a smart-switchable cover for constant outlet hot air temperature: Numerical investigation","authors":"Mohamed E. Zayed , Kashif Irshad , Shafiqur Rehman , A.E. Kabeel , Mohammed El Hadi Attia , A.S. Abdelrazik , Abdelkrim Khelifa , Mohamed Abdelgaied , Mohamed A. Mohandes , Salem Algarni , Talal Alqahtani","doi":"10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100529","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100529","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study introduces a modified finned plate solar air heater (FPSAH) combined with a low-cost smart-switchable cover (SSC) for constant outlet hot air temperature. The SSC is adapted as a sun blackout shield cover with a controllable curtain roller blind which is flexible to automatically and partially shade the glazing coverage. The main objective is to manage the falling solar energy transmitted through the glazing coverage to permanently facilitate a constant outlet hot air temperature throughout the daytime. The FPSAH-SSC is studied through CFD simulations under solar irradiation values changing from 600 to 1000 W/m<sup>2</sup> at a constant airflow rate of 0.60 kg/min. A series of simulations is performed to determine the optimal shading length of the SSC corresponding to each solar irradiation value to provide a constant outlet hot air temperature of 50 °C. Moreover, thermo-economic analyses are conducted on the proposed system to evaluate the heating power, outlet hot air temperature, average Nusselt number, energy efficiency, and cost of 1.0 kW of thermal heat. The results show that the optimal shading lengths, corresponding to solar irradiation of 600, 700, 800, 900, and 1000 W/m<sup>2</sup>, are determined to be 0.0, 4.0, 20, 30, and 40 cm, respectively. This in consequence results in a controlled outlet hot air temperature from the proposed FPSAH-SSC of 48.08, 49.85, 49.83, 50.11, and 49.84 ° °C, capable of decreasing the hot air temperatures by 8.95 %, 14.57 %, 18.7 %, and 24.44 %, respectively, compared to the case without using an SSC. Moreover, the energy efficiency reaches up to 40.62 %, while the cost of 1 kW of thermal heat is estimated at 0.0098 $/kWh, respectively.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":93548,"journal":{"name":"Energy nexus","volume":"19 ","pages":"Article 100529"},"PeriodicalIF":9.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144903051","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Energy nexusPub Date : 2025-08-24DOI: 10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100521
Ana C. Araújo, Ana Gomes, Pedro M. Rodrigues, Cristina L.M. Silva
{"title":"Advancing solar cooking: Challenges, innovations, and future directions","authors":"Ana C. Araújo, Ana Gomes, Pedro M. Rodrigues, Cristina L.M. Silva","doi":"10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100521","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100521","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":93548,"journal":{"name":"Energy nexus","volume":"19 ","pages":"Article 100521"},"PeriodicalIF":9.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144903049","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Energy nexusPub Date : 2025-08-24DOI: 10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100517
Yungpil Yoo , Sang-Yup Lee , Seok-Ho Seo , Si-Doek Oh , Ho-Young Kwak
{"title":"Energy, exergy and thermoeconomic analyses for a power-to-green methanol production plant","authors":"Yungpil Yoo , Sang-Yup Lee , Seok-Ho Seo , Si-Doek Oh , Ho-Young Kwak","doi":"10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100517","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100517","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The feasibility of integrating a CCU (Carbon Capture and Utilization) plant into a green methanol production system was studied through detailed energy, exergy, and thermoeconomic analyses from process, economic, and environmental perspectives. In this system, wood chips are combusted with oxygen generated by an electrolyzer in a circulating fluidized bed boiler. Carbon dioxide, a primary component of flue gas, reacts with hydrogen produced by the electrolyzer to synthesize green methanol. The chemical formula for wood chip combustion was modeled and used in this study. Our thermodynamic modeling allows us to calculate the oxy-fuel combustion, carbon capture, and water electrolysis processes to obtain the amounts of carbon dioxide and hydrogen required to produce methanol. When the unit costs of wood chips and electricity are $0.15/kg and $0.120/kWh, respectively, and the system’s initial investment cost is $117.9 million, the production cost of green methanol is calculated to be $1.393/kg. Additionally, the unit costs of hydrogen and oxygen produced by the electrolyzer were $4.75/kg and $0.30/kg, respectively. However, if the unit cost of electricity is reduced by 50 %, the production cost of green methanol decreases to $0.90/kg, which is close to the market price. If the carbon dioxide produced is sold as carbon credits at $0.50/kg, the unit price of methanol drops to $0.89/kg. Using wind, solar, or nuclear energy to electrolyze water, the carbon emissions of this methanol plant are estimated to be around 0.11–0.45 kgCO<sub>2</sub>/kgMeOH.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":93548,"journal":{"name":"Energy nexus","volume":"19 ","pages":"Article 100517"},"PeriodicalIF":9.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144907470","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Energy nexusPub Date : 2025-08-24DOI: 10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100518
Imtiaz Ali , Arslan Khan , Salman Raza Naqvi
{"title":"Insight into textile sludge combustion behavior: Kinetic study by thermal analysis and advanced machine learning modeling","authors":"Imtiaz Ali , Arslan Khan , Salman Raza Naqvi","doi":"10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100518","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100518","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this study, the combustion potential of textile sludge is evaluated through thermogravimetric analysis. The analysis is conducted in an oxidative atmosphere with heating rates ranging from 5, 10, 15 and 20 °C/min and temperatures ranging from ambient to 900 °C. Kinetic analysis was complemented using the isoconversational model-free approach, including the differential and integral methods (Friedman, Ozawa-Flynn-Wall and Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose). The average activation energies (E<sub>a</sub>) calculated by these methods were about 296.73 kJ/mol, 324.97 kJ/mol, and 318.75 kJ/mol, respectively. The reaction mechanism was derived from the combined kinetic analysis, which showed a high R² value of 0.99507, indicating a strong correlation between the experimental data and the kinetic analysis results. The analysis of the activation energy distribution was performed by utilizing four pseudo-components (PC1-PC4). Furthermore, Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), Classification and Regression Trees (C&RT), Boosted Regression Trees (BRT), and Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS) were employed to predict the E<sub>a</sub> for textile sludge combustion. This detailed exploration of kinetics and the development of innovative predictive modeling techniques like ANN, C&RT, BRT, and MARS establish a new standard for creating customized models for the thermochemical conversion of textile sludge.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":93548,"journal":{"name":"Energy nexus","volume":"19 ","pages":"Article 100518"},"PeriodicalIF":9.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144907468","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Energy nexusPub Date : 2025-08-20DOI: 10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100514
Sandeep Aryal , Foster Caragay , Sarah Moussaddy , Mark Lefsrud , Jonathan Maisonneuve
{"title":"Energy efficiency of using a novel fertilizer-based liquid desiccant system to dehumidify indoor plant environments: An experimental analysis","authors":"Sandeep Aryal , Foster Caragay , Sarah Moussaddy , Mark Lefsrud , Jonathan Maisonneuve","doi":"10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100514","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100514","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Plant cultivation in controlled environments such as greenhouses and indoor farms has several advantages over field agriculture and can therefore be an important part of improving the sustainability of global food systems. Among the requirements for effective cultivation in indoor environments is the need to control humidity, but in general the energy cost associated with dehumidification is high. In this study, we evaluate the energy efficiency of a novel dehumidification concept that uses cold concentrated fertilizer as a liquid desiccant solution in a membrane-based contactor. This is the first ever experimental analysis of the process’ energy efficiency – which we define as the amount of energy required to cool desiccant relative to the amount of water vapor removed from the indoor environment. Specific energy use as low as 1.45 Wh per g of water vapor, is observed during laboratory testing when super concentrated calcium nitrate solution is maintained at 8 °C. Assuming a coefficient of performance of 5, this translates to specific work of only 0.29 Wh/g. As the batch of fertilizer solution is recirculated and concentration drops, specific work is found to increase to 0.40 Wh/g. The need to adjust fertilizer temperature to minimize specific work in response to changing concentration is clearly shown. Testing is also conducted with several multi-ion fertilizer blends, and similar results are observed. These energy efficiency results compare very favorably with other dehumidification technologies and standards, suggesting a promising future for fertilizer-based dehumidification.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":93548,"journal":{"name":"Energy nexus","volume":"19 ","pages":"Article 100514"},"PeriodicalIF":9.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144917035","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Energy nexusPub Date : 2025-08-20DOI: 10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100512
Bahareh Arasteh , Mehdi Shabani-Nooshabadi , Hanieh Ansarinejad
{"title":"A novel high-performance supercapacitor based on the innovated ternary CeO2@CoWO4/N-doped graphene nanocomposites","authors":"Bahareh Arasteh , Mehdi Shabani-Nooshabadi , Hanieh Ansarinejad","doi":"10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100512","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100512","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The present work used multiple steps method to fabrication the three component CeO<sub>2</sub>@CoWO<sub>4</sub>/N-doped graphene (CCNG) as active material for supercapacitor application for the first time. For this purpose, firstly CoWO<sub>4</sub> nanostructure was synthesized <em>via</em> hydrothermal route, after that CeO<sub>2</sub> nanoparticles were sonochemicaly grown on CoWO<sub>4</sub> nanostructures followed by thermal treatment and overall, CCNG nanocomposites were synthesized through the hydrothermal approach in presence of urea as nitrogen source. As-designed materials were physico-chemically characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) tests. The electrochemical capacitive of as-fabricated nanostructures were investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) technologies in 3.0 M KOH solution as electrolyte. Also, molar ratio of Ce<sup>2+</sup>: Co<sup>2+</sup> was optimized and CeO<sub>2</sub>@CoWO<sub>4</sub> with molar ratio 1:2 was selected as the best electrode with specific capacitance of 489.27 F g<sup>-1</sup> at constant current density of 3 A g<sup>-1</sup>. Likewise, the mass ratio of N-doped graphene to active materials was optimized and, CCNG-2 nanocomposites illustrated the highest specific capacitance of 698.18 F g<sup>−1</sup> at 3 A g<sup>−1</sup>, which was greater than that of bare CoWO<sub>4</sub> (295.64 F g<sup>−1</sup>) and CeO<sub>2</sub> (293.45 F g<sup>-1</sup>) at this condition. Furthermore, CCNG-2 nanocomposites exhibited superior cycling stability 91.8 % capacity retention after 1000 cycles at sweeping scan rate of 50 mV s<sup>-1</sup>, while CeO<sub>2</sub>@CoWO<sub>4</sub> possessed 73.2 % capacity retention at 1000th cycles. These interesting results revealed that the CCNG-2 nanocomposites are capable as a active material for usage in high-performance electrochemical supercapacitors.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":93548,"journal":{"name":"Energy nexus","volume":"19 ","pages":"Article 100512"},"PeriodicalIF":9.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144890868","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Strategic investments for enhancing power system resilience through zonal microgrids","authors":"Samuel Yankson , Kouhyar Sheida , Farzad Ferdowsi , Terrence Chambers , Shahab Mehraeen","doi":"10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100505","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100505","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The existing power distribution system is confronted with a myriad of challenges and encompassing issues such as aging infrastructure, dynamic shifts in energy demand patterns and disturbances induced by climate change. Given the pivotal role played by the power sector in contemporary society by providing essential services and supporting economic activities, ensuring the resilience of power distribution systems is a top priority for governments, utilities and other stakeholders like consumers. The extant power grid characterized by its aging components, requires a complete overhaul to enhance its resilience in the wake of increasing weather-induced power disruptions attributed to climate change. However, outright replacement of the existing grid is presently deemed economically impractical, entailing significant costs and negative social impacts. Instead, a more pragmatic strategy to augment the overall system resilience involves identifying and reinforcing critical sectors of the grid at a reasonable cost and with reasonable disruptions. This paper presents a novel resilience enhancement framework for power distribution systems based on N-1 Impact Analysis. Unlike traditional reliability studies, the proposed method prioritizes critical lines based on the unserved energy impact of their outages and partitions the network into resilience-driven zones. An Improved Grey Wolf Optimizer (IGWO) is used to size and allocate DERs within these zones, considering operational constraints and investment costs. The approach is validated on a real utility feeder modeled in OpenDSS and MATLAB, achieving significant reductions in unserved energy and demonstrating superior cost-effectiveness compared to existing approaches. The framework provides utilities with a practical, data-driven tool for targeted resilience planning.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":93548,"journal":{"name":"Energy nexus","volume":"19 ","pages":"Article 100505"},"PeriodicalIF":9.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144907471","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Photosynthetic energy assessment in shallot farming using combining Sentinel-2 data with NetBeat™ in a highland tropical agroecosystem: Case study at food estate Hutajulu, North Sumatra, Indonesia","authors":"Riswanti Sigalingging , Rangga Resna Immanuel Pasaribu , Noverita Sprinse Vinolina , Lukman Adlin Harahap , Candra Sigalingging , Kartika Purwandari","doi":"10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100513","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100513","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Efficient monitoring is essential to achieve optimal growth and productivity in shallot cultivation (<em>Allium ascalonicum</em> L.), particularly within large-scale agricultural developments, such as the Food Estate program in Hutajulu, North Sumatra, Indonesia. This study aimed to analyse the dynamics of photosynthetic energy absorption in shallot farming by combining Sentinel-2 level 2A data with NetBeat™, an advanced decision support platform developed by Netafim. Three vegetation indices—MSAVI (Modified Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index), NDVI (Normalised Difference Vegetation Index), and NDRE (Normalised Difference Red Edge)—were employed to evaluate the photosynthetic performance of three shallot varieties: Lokananta, Sanren F1, and Maserati. The study began by establishing coordinate-based sample plots of 0.2–0.25 hectares in the Food Estate area, where sensors were strategically placed to collect environmental and crop data. Each coordinate point consisted of six samples of the same shallot variety arranged in a grid pattern. Observations were conducted over 120 days, covering four distinct growth stages: leaf formation, vegetative growth, tuber formation, and canopy ageing. Data were collected from laboratory analyses and field trials, supported by Netbeat technology integrated into a digital farming system. The results revealed that overall photon energy absorption efficiency was relatively low, with significant disparities among the varieties. Among the indices, MSAVI provided a more accurate assessment of photosynthetic activity compared to NDVI and NDRE. Notably, the Sanren F1 variety demonstrated the highest potential for efficient cultivation, suggesting its suitability for future shallot production in the Food Estate region of Hutajulu.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":93548,"journal":{"name":"Energy nexus","volume":"19 ","pages":"Article 100513"},"PeriodicalIF":9.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144893006","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}