🌾 Japan's first 2 MW agrivoltaic plant is running above a working rice paddy in Tokushima, and its main trick is knowing when to get out of the way.

April to August the single-axis trackers hold the panels edge-on to the sun so the rice below keeps its light. The backside of the bifacial glass catches light bouncing off the flooded paddy to claw back some output. After harvest the panels square up and it runs as a normal solar farm until spring.

There's also typhoon mode: strong wind folds the rows into a figure-eight so the storm has nothing flat to grab.

It's a 40x scale-up of a 45 kW pilot in Chiba where two seasons of rice matched open-field yield and quality. Idemitsu estimates solar over 5% of Japan's farmland would double the country's installed capacity.

First harvest under the full 2 MW array lands in the next few weeks.

pv magazine: pv-magazine.com/2026/02/19/ide…
Nikkei Asia: asia.nikkei.com/business/energ…
Idemitsu: idemitsu.com/en/2050future/act…

#agrivoltaics #solar #japan

Idemitsu switches on 2 MW of solar above rice paddy - pv magazine Global

Japanese petroleum company Idemitsu Kosan has announced its 2 MW agricultural solar power plant, installed 3.8 meters above a rice paddy, has begun operating.

^{Patrick Jowett (pv magazine Global)}