Current Photovoltaic Research ISSN:2288-3274(Print) 2508-125X(Online)

Agrovoltaic system is a concept that combines agriculture and photovoltaic (PV) system by applying a PV system to the upper part of farmland. In this study, we developed a folding drive system for an agrophotovoltaic (agroPV) module (150 Wp/4×9 cell) exclusively for pear farming with 10 kW capacity. The system was installed in 2018, and the growth characteristics and quantity of pears under the agroPV folding system have been investigated for 2 years. We found that thare is no differences of the characteristics of pears grown under the agroPV system compared to the pears grown without the system (control) except the percutaneous color L of pear. However, the weight and sugar content of the pear grown under the agroPV system were decreased by 4.5% and 1.3°Bx compared to that of the control, respectively. We assume that this is mainly due to the influenced of the delay in flowering as upper PV module block some of sunlight. However, interestingly, when we deleyed the pear harvesting by 2 weeks, the weight of pears increased by 8.5% and they became nearly the sample as the control pears harvested 2 week earlier. In addition, we also found that the agroPV modules decrease the fall rate of pear when the typoon struck, also it mitigates cold damage by 38% during April by protecting from frost. In conclusion, it can be said that the agroPV system help to protect target crops from the environmental conditions and the quality of the crops are similar to the that of control.