Solar Daylighting to Offset LED Lighting in Vertical Farming: A Techno-Economic Study of Light Pipes

TL;DR

This study evaluates the use of roof-mounted light pipes to deliver natural daylight in vertical farms, analyzing their optical efficiency, economic viability, and potential to reduce electricity consumption compared to LED-only systems.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed optical and economic model of light pipes in vertical farming, demonstrating hybrid daylight-LED strategies can maintain yields while reducing energy use.

Findings

Light pipes achieve 45%-75% optical efficiency depending on solar position.

Daylight-only operation reduces yield by 17% and is not economically viable.

Hybrid strategies with PWM dimming and UV-IR filtering significantly lower electricity consumption.

Abstract

Vertical farming is a controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) approach in which crops are grown in stacked layers under regulated climate and lighting, enabling predictable production but requiring high electricity input. This study quantifies the techno-economic impact of roof-mounted daylighting in a three-tier container vertical farm using a light-pipe (LP) system that delivers sunlight to the upper tier. The optical chain, comprising a straight duct and a tilting aluminum-coated mirror within a rotating dome, was modelled in Tonatiuh to estimate crop-level photon delivery and solar gains. These outputs were coupled with a transient AGRI-Energy model to perform year-round simulations for Dubai. Tier-3 strategies were compared against a fully LED benchmark, including daylight-only operation, on/off supplementation, PWM dimming, UV-IR filtering, variable-transmittance control, and simple glazing. Ray-tracing predicted an overall LP optical efficiency of 45%-75%, depending on solar position, quantifying the fraction of incident daylight at the collector aperture delivered to the target growing zone. Daylight-only operation reduced the total three-tier yield by 17% and was not economically viable despite 27-29% electricity savings. Hybrid daylight-LED strategies preserved benchmark yield while reducing electricity use. PWM dimming combined with UV-IR filtering achieved the lowest specific electricity energy consumption (6.32 kWh/kg), 14% below the benchmark. Overall, viability remains CAPEX-limited because achievable electricity savings are insufficient to offset the added investment and thus improves mainly under high electricity and carbon-price contexts, although the LP system delivers a 15-38% lower light cost than an optical-fiber reference under identical incident daylight.