Maintaining high crop productivity in rice fields hosting solar panels remains a major challenge for agrivoltaic projects, as demonstrated by a recent research project conducted by the University of Tokyo in Japan. The six-year experiment showed that grain yields reached 8.5 tons per hectare in the control plot, compared with 6.5 tons per hectare in the agrivoltaic field, representing a 23% reduction.

The results confirmed that rice yields in the agrivoltaic system were limited by reduced biomass and fewer panicles, both of which are critical to rice productivity. Grain quality also deteriorated under partial shading, particularly in terms of grain chalkiness and head rice yield.

With these challenges in mind, another research group from the University of Tokyo has proposed a multi-modeling approach that could help accurately predict rice yields in agrivoltaic systems.

“Our study is the first to build a multi-modeling framework that couples three models – solar radiation environment, rice growth and yield, and photovoltaic power generation. It predicts rice yield and electricity output simultaneously in rice agrivoltaic systems,” corresponding author Yoichiro Kato told pv magazine. “It integrated radiation, rice growth, and photovoltaic models to jointly predict rice yield and electricity generation under agrivoltaic panels, enabling probabilistic, climate-based design of panel configurations that meet yield targets while quantifying the impact on power output and revenue.”

The researchers used Rhinoceros, Grasshopper and Ladybug Tools to simulate solar radiation reaching rice crops beneath the panels. They used the ORYZA crop model to estimate rice yields under agrivoltaic and conventional cultivation conditions, while PVsyst simulated electricity generation.

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