- A solar power sharing or agro power plant is a system where solar panels and a farm are located on the same land.
- In Japan, it is becoming popular among farmers as a way to make money and implement sustainable practices.
- This article is part of The Great Energy Transition.
In 2012, Yoshiaki Hattori was looking for a change. Hattori Tea Plantation, a family business in Japan's Shizuka Prefecture, has been growing green sencha tea for over a century.
Hattori wanted to find a way to make farming more profitable. He came up with a solution: Instead of growing ordinary green tea, the plant focused on high-quality matcha.
This is because matista, a green tea with many health benefits, is very difficult to grow. First, it's a waiting game: it takes five years for farmers to collect. It follows a critical shading process to create the signature flavor of Machaya, where 90% of the tree needs to be shaded over a period of three to four weeks.
Usually this is shaded by wrapping the tree in a reed. However, there are limitations: the risk of diseases and leaf damage increases. One option is to build a roof over a tea tree. But as Hattori told Insider, it could be too expensive.
“I need a convenient way,” Hattori said. "I was wondering how I could do this?"
At the same time, the Japanese government is reviewing the energy supply. In the year The accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in 2011 led to the abandonment of nuclear power. The following year, the Japanese government introduced a feed-in tariff scheme designed to encourage investments in renewable energy. The scheme will make it easier for people to sell power to utilities at a guaranteed fixed price.
It was then that Hattori had an idea. Instead of building a conventional roof to protect the tea trees, a roof is made of solar panels installed two to three meters from the tea tree. The matcha tea gets the right shade and is electric at the same time.
It was still more expensive than the traditional method of packing tea trees, but thanks to the new government scheme, Hattori was able to sell electricity and the solar panels soon paid for themselves.
"Thanks to electricity sales, we have more freedom of movement," Hattori said.
Energy self-sufficiency priority
This agricultural method is called "solar sharing" or "agro-energy". The concept is simple: solar panels and farms are on the same land. Crops can be grown under the panels, and sheep and cattle can graze between them.
Ruth Ann Honocruz, a researcher at Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, told Isador that this method is suitable for Japan. With limited fertile land, Japan must maintain a balance between food production and energy security. Hunocruz said that the country's vulnerability to natural disasters has made energy supply a priority.
"There should be a decentralized system, there should be power in the [people's] state, especially if there is a natural disaster," he said.
Investments in solar power across the country are reducing Japan's dependence on energy imports, Honocruz added.
"The main goal [of agrovoltics] is to reduce the impact of using renewable energy sources," Honocruz said. "Large solar farms can be very destructive because the land is used only for solar energy. But with an agropower plant, it can be used for agricultural purposes.
The share of solar energy in Japan is growing
Solar power is a key component of Japan's plan to achieve zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The country's mountainous terrain and deep coastal waters make it difficult to harness wind power, making solar power a prime renewable option.
With less than 2,000 agro-electric farms in Japan, solar energy sharing systems are gradually expanding throughout Japan. Most of the agroelectric farms are small, 65% of them are less than 1000 square meters. Livestock produces 500,000 to 600,000 megawatt-hours of energy annually.
Agripower factories in Japan produce about 120 types of crops, including ginger, green onions, blueberries and rice. While additional shading can reduce agricultural productivity, solar panels can also benefit crops. A study has shown that the cooling effect of agroelectric systems increases the yield of cherry tomatoes and jalapeno peppers.
This method is successful in Hattori tea gardens. It has increased the use of the system to seven sites, producing five tons of green tea and 8,000 kilowatts of electricity annually.
According to Hattori, the biggest challenge is getting other farmers to try to share solar energy.
“The Japanese have a way of thinking. They stay in their ways, the old ways, so most people don't do anything new. But Hattori is hopeful that the winning decision can inspire other matchmakers.
"We want more people to know about this system," he said. We want to spread this and get more people to make cool green tea.
