Abstract
Agrivoltaics is the system of simultaneously engaging in agriculture while generating electricity from photovoltaic panels installed above the same piece of land. Agrivoltaics is becoming increasingly common around the world, including in Japan. However, techniques to achieve the optimal balance between agriculture and photovoltaics have not been systematized. In this study, we conducted a literature survey to clarify the situation of agrivoltaics as practiced in Japan and the world and the trends in research activity. Our literature survey revealed that research in this field, both within Japan and internationally, has only been active since 2020, and only 31 Japanese papers had been published by 2022. In addition, the content of the published agrivoltaics papers focused more on the photovoltaics aspect than on the agricultural aspect; among the Japanese papers listed on CiNii, the majority focused on the social and economic aspects, rather than the technical aspects. From the perspective of agricultural production, a portion of the solar radiation impinging on farmland is distributed to the photovoltaic panels in agrivoltaics. Therefore, to reduce as much as possible the negative impact on food production, it is necessary to conduct research that will contribute to the systematization of crop cultivation techniques under agrivoltaics.
