Japan's first vertical agrivoltaic project

• The facility was built with heterojunction modules and placing systems supplied by German firms Luxor Solar and Next2Sun, specifically. The range in between the panel rows ranges from 8 to 10 meters and also the farming surface within the rows will be made use of by neighborhood livestock farmers as pasture.

Japan's Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies (ISEP) as well as Japanese EPC service provider Ryoeng Co., Ltd., have actually developed an agrivoltaic system with a vertical design in Nihonmatsu City, Fukushima Prefecture.

The system is south-oriented, not west-east oriented as is typically recommended for vertical setups due to topographical constraints, the ISEP said in a declaration. The project owner is Nihonmatsu Community Energy.

The solar modules for the facility were supplied by German producer Luxor Solar, which gave n-type heterojunction panels for the project. The vertical mounting system was offered by German expert Next2Sun. The selection style was adjusted to follow residential wind speed standards. Ground and also bearing capacity studies were additionally carried out to ensure sufficient resistance to solid winds.

The distance in between the panel rows ranges from 8 to 10 meters and the agricultural surface within the rows will be used by neighborhood livestock farmers as pasture.

Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) just recently released new guidelines to develop and develop ground-mounted agrivoltaic facilities in a bid to enhance the presence of such projects in the land-scarce country.

According to recent stats from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and also Fisheries, 200 MW of grid-connected agrivoltaic projects were in operation in Japan by the end of September. The projects cover a total surface of around 181.6 hectares as well as they are spread throughout the whole country.