The Japanese Government's New Basic Energy Plan and Agrivoltaics

Currently, the Japanese government is formulating a new mid-term plan for energy policy. This plan includes a target for the introduction of renewable energy in 2030, and the figures are attracting attention.

The draft of the plan was released on July 21, and in it, the target for Japan's introduction of renewable energy in 2030 was presented as 36% to 38%. Other than renewable energy, nuclear power accounts for 20% to 22%, and thermal power accounts for about 41%.

Unfortunately, this is not an ambitious goal at all, but given Japan's lagging status in the international community, it is a figure that will require a great deal of effort to achieve.

Among renewable energies, there is no other option but to greatly increase solar power, but here again, unfortunately, the target was not ambitious enough to introduce it. The figures remain very ambiguous.

The Japanese government did not adopt the private sector's proposal that two to three times the amount of solar power generation equipment will be needed compared to 2020. In this draft, the introduction target is stuck at 100 GW.

The reason for this was the reluctance to include farmland in the piling up of numbers on where to build more solar power plants.

However, additional 50 GW to 100 GW can easily be introduced by using agrivoltaics, and more steps should be taken to promote renewable energy that coexists with agriculture.

How to Choose PV modules for Agrivoltaics in Japan

Agrivoltaics in Japan has involved a unique selection process for PV modules. Slim PV modules were favored when they were first popularized in 2013. The purpose of this was to ensure that solar radiation would hit crops as evenly as possible and to prevent damage to equipment from strong winds.

Fujidana style solar sharing with slim PV modules

At the time, Japan's high cost of FIT made it possible to use these specially designed solar panels. By adopting the slim type, the project cost will be 30% to 50% higher than that of ordinary industrial solar panels.

This is limited to the Fujidana style solar sharing design, while the array type design uses larger products from the beginning.

Since around 2017, normal, larger products have gradually come into use, partly due to changes in the market, such as the need to improve business viability as a result of lowered FITs and the withdrawal of manufacturers producing slim types.

Fujidana style solar sharing with large modules

The latest design of the Fujidana style solar sharing minimizes the impact on growth through precise simulation of solar radiation on crops. Improvements in design have also made it possible to withstand large typhoons. As a result, the need to adopt slim-type products is now decreasing.

In the future, research is being conducted on the use of double-sided glass solar panels to improve durability and increase solar radiation while also ensuring economic efficiency.

Increase in agricultural participation triggered by Agrivoltaics

The spread of agrivoltaics has encouraged new entrants to agriculture in Japan.

As of 2020, the agricultural population in Japan has declined to one-tenth of what it was 60 years ago. The average age of farmers has reached 67, so we need to increase the number of young people entering the industry.

Strangely enough, more and more young people and businesses in Japan are taking advantage of agrivoltaics to enter the agricultural industry.

Young people in their twenties are moving toward agriculture

Currently, solar power companies in Japan are actively engaged in agrivoltaics. It is not uncommon for businesses that have been involved in the solar power business to enter the agriculture industry by getting involved in agrivoltaics.

It seems that this experience with renewable energy has sparked an interest in agriculture.

So why is the younger generation interested in this? It is probably because they have a stronger interest in energy and agricultural sustainability.

The income from energy makes it easier to engage in agriculture. And there is a growing trend to use renewable energy in agriculture, rather than simply selling electricity.

The time will soon come when solar sharing will be the common choice for newcomers to agriculture.