A new study titled ‘Balancing crop production and electricity generation in rice agrivoltaic systems: A multi-modeling approach,’ has demonstrated that careful adjustment of photovoltaic panel tilt angles can help rice agrivoltaic systems meet national crop production requirements while preserving most of their electricity generation potential.
The research, led by Chun Hau Thum of the University of Tokyo with colleagues from the International Rice Research Institute, was published in Field Crops Research. It addresses a central challenge for agrivoltaics, which combines crop cultivation and solar power generation on the same land: ensuring that food production remains reliable despite shading from solar panels.
Agrivoltaics is increasingly viewed as a way to reduce competition between agriculture and renewable energy development. However, solar panels can cover a substantial share of cultivated land, and crop yields under partial shade can vary widely from year to year and from site to site. In Japan, regulators require rice grown in agrivoltaic systems to achieve at least 80% of the yield produced under conventional cultivation.
The research team independently calibrated three models using on farm data from Japan. A radiation model estimated the sunlight reaching the rice canopy, the ORYZA v3 crop model simulated rice growth and yield, and PVsyst calculated electricity production from the photovoltaic array.
Using daily weather records from 1994 to 2023, the researchers tested how different panel tilt angles affected solar radiation available to the crop, rice yields and power output.
Under the default panel configuration, relative rice yield ranged from 66% to 94% of the conventional control yield. This means the system would sometimes fail to meet Japan’s 80% requirement, creating financial and operational risk for farmers, renewable energy developers and investors.
The study found that mean daily solar radiation during the cropping season was closely linked to relative yield, with a correlation coefficient of 0.67 and a statistical significance level below 0.001. This confirmed that the amount of light reaching the rice canopy is a key determinant of agrivoltaic performance.
When the researchers adjusted the panel tilt angle by 7 degrees toward the vertical, the probability of meeting the government yield requirement rose to 80%. A 30 degree adjustment increased that probability to 90%. In return, annual electricity generation fell by only 0.2% and 3.2%, respectively.
The authors said the findings show that panel tilt can be used as a practical design lever to balance food and energy objectives. Rather than accepting large year to year yield fluctuations, developers can model local weather conditions and select a configuration that matches their risk tolerance.
The multi modelling framework can also be adapted to other crops and locations, provided daily weather data are available. According to the researchers, it could support the development of agrivoltaic suitability maps and help project developers estimate likely electricity generation before installation.
Link to the full paper HERE 
Author: Bryan Groenendaal






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