Updated June 5, 2025, 6:00 p.m.: This article has been updated to confirm the scheme to be used for power delivery.
Kubota will quadruple its agrisolar capacity to 20MW from the current 5MW, it announced on June 2, 2025.
According to the statement, the TSE Prime-listed agricultural machinery manufacturer plans to commission 15MW of agrisolar plants in Tochigi and Ibaraki gradually from December 2025. It will develop the projects jointly with Agroecology, aiming to grow rice, wheat, and soybeans beneath the panels.
The new assets’ output will be delivered to Kubota’s Tsukuba, Keiyo, and Sakai factories in Ibaraki, Chiba, and Osaka, respectively. It will complement power from the existing 5MW, commissioned in July 2024, which accounts for about 9% of Tsukuba Factory’s consumption.
In an email to Japan Energy Hub, a Kubota spokesperson confirmed the power will be delivered using self-wheeling, which allows businesses to use the grid to supply power from their generation assets to their demand centers.
Kubota’s agrisolar expansion comes amid growing interest in developing solar power plants making dual use of land. Recognizing the constraints of traditional development, the Ministry of the Environment has also been offering a subsidy for such projects and will reopen it for applications next week.
