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Japanese company Sekisui Chemical has launched an agrovoltaic project in collaboration with Terra, a unit of Japanese company Citizen Energy Chiba, to test the performance of its perovskite solar cell technology and the effect of the photovoltaic system on plants.Japanese company Sekisui Chemical, developer of a roll-to-roll process for manufacturing perovskite photovoltaic panels, has announced an agrivoltaic project in collaboration with Terra, an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor and a unit of Japanese company Citizen Energy Chiba.
Sekisui announced that the project’s perovskite modules will be based on its 30 cm wide films manufactured using a roll-to-roll process and its sealing technology, film formation, materials and processes. Sekisui’s perovskite solar devices have a durability equivalent to 10 years outdoors and a power conversion efficiency of 15%. The company says it is currently working on improving durability and power generation efficiency, as well as expanding to 1 m bandwidths.
The modules have a convex lens-shaped cross section and are based on a design by Terra, which holds the rights to the relevant patents from Citizen Energy Chiba. According to the manufacturer, the new modules are part of a lighter system intended to balance wind load and centre of gravity without adding the extra weight that conventional modules would require.
Both the module design and Terra’s “ultra-thin” mounting and anchoring method will be validated throughout the project. Yield and crop data will also be collected, verified and compared to projected values.
Agrivoltaics, which is also called “solar sharing” in Japan, is a specialty of Terra, according to the project team. Its plans include agrivoltaics trials with various crops in Japan, including rice paddies, as well as field trials on idle and abandoned agricultural land. |
