Buzykina, Tetiana, Bawab, Omar, Khan, Asiya, Ali, Husameddin Alhaj, Saeed, Nagham ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5124-7973 and Mashateih, Mohammad (2026) Photovoltaic vs national grid energy in Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) for enhanced WEFE nexus: a Jordanian case study. In: 2026 IEEE International Conference on Smart Computing Workshops and Other Affiliated events (SmartComp Companion), 22-25 Jun 2026, Messina, Italy.

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Abstract

Jordan is among the most water-scarce nations globally, faces pressing challenges exacerbated by climate change. Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) is a great solution for water savings relative to conventional field cultivation, positioning it as a transformative technology for Jordan's Water-EnergyFood-Ecosystem (WEFE) nexus. However, CEA's intensive LEDbased lighting demands significant electrical energy, historically supplied by national grids supplied by fossil fuels. This study presents an empirical investigation into whether solar photovoltaic (PV) panels can substitute grid electricity in a CEA unit without compromising plant growth outcomes. Eight plant samples grown in a PV-powered CEA unit were compared against eight grown under national grid (NG) power across a 47–55 day growth cycle. Measured parameters included root length, plant height, leaf count, plant weight, chlorophyll-a content, plant dry matter, and canopy cross-sectional area. Statistical comparison revealed no significant differences between the two energy conditions, with PV plants averaging 99.8 g versus 70.5 g for NG plants, and heights of 35.1 cm (PV) versus 32.5 cm (NG). Further, to determine whether plants grown from PV and NG produce the same yield using machine learning regression models. Additionally, a U-Net convolutional neural network was deployed for image segmentation of green canopy coverage from CCTV footage, achieving a validation accuracy of 86.27%. Results confirm that PV-powered CEA systems are agronomically equivalent to grid-powered systems, supporting their adoption as sustainable, cost-reducing alternatives to advance food security and WEFE resilience.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
ISBN:	979-8-3195-4416-2
Page Range:	pp. 213-218
Identifier:	10.1109/SmartComp-Companion70724.2026.00053
Related URLs:	Organisation
Date Deposited:	01 Oct 2026
Dates:	Date Publication status 22 June 2026 Presented 31 July 2026 Published Online
School, department or research centre:	School of Computing and Engineering
URI:	https://repository.uwl.ac.uk/id/eprint/15482

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