As countries race to expand renewable energy infrastructure, balancing clean electricity production with land use for food remains a pressing challenge—especially in Japan, where mountainous terrain limits space. A recent study led by researchers from the University of Tokyo explores a promising solution: integrating solar panels with traditional rice farming in a practice known as agrivoltaics. As reported in the Journal of Photonics for Energy, the research team installed a dual-axis sun-tracking photovoltaic (PV) system over a rice paddy in Miyada-mura, Nagano Pr…