Design Patterns for Agrivoltaics in Japan

The design of Agrivoltaics or solar-sharing systems in Japan has changed significantly since the start of their widespread use in 2013.

The concept of the project was divided into two main categories: prioritizing agriculture and prioritizing the power generation business. The decision has been made to prioritize reasonable profits from power generation projects in the face of severe cost tightening by Japan's FIT, or to pursue designs that are more suitable for farming and crops.

The one that has been prioritizing the profitability of the power generation business is a design known as the Array type. This is simply a taller pillar of the racks used in ordinary ground-mounted solar power plants.

Array type solar-sharing

In the case of the array system, it can be installed at a cost not much different from that of a ground-mounted solar power plant, but the shading rate may be uneven and agricultural machinery may be difficult to use.

In contrast, the Fujidana style design, in which solar panels are installed evenly, has been actively adopted. This design has been adopted with the idea of prioritizing farm work and agricultural production.

Early Fujidana style solar-sharing

In the early stages of the widespread use of solar sharing, the use of slim solar panels was favored in addition to this uniform solar panel design. However, this custom-made solar panel has become less common in recent years due to the increasing difficulty in obtaining them.

For the past three years or so, there has been an increase in the use of Fujidana style mounts with large solar panels as a design that allows for both farming and power generation projects.

The latest model of Fujidana style solar-sharing