  Agrivoltaic systems are becoming more popular as a critical technology for
attaining several sustainable development goals such as affordable and clean
energy, zero hunger, clean water and sanitation, and climate action. However,
understanding the shading effects on crops is fundamental to choosing an
optimal agrivoltaic system as a wrong choice could lead to severe crop
reductions. In this study, fixed vertical, one-axis tracking, and two-axis
tracking photovoltaic arrays for agrivoltaic applications are developed to
analyse the shading conditions on the ground used for crop production. The
models have shown remarkably similar accuracy compared to commercial software
such as PVsyst and SketchUp. The developed models will help reduce the crop
yield uncertainty under agrivoltaic systems by providing accurate
photosynthetically active radiation distribution at the crop level. The
distribution was further analysed using a light homogeneity index and
calculating the yearly photosynthetically active radiation reduction. The
homogeneity and photosynthetically active radiation reduction varied
significantly depending on the agrivoltaic system design, from 91% to 95% and
11% to 34%, respectively. To identify the most suitable agrivoltaic system
layout dependent on crop and geographical location, it is of fundamental
importance to study the effect of shadings with distribution analysis.
