© KYOCERA Corporation
On the coattails of the announcement by the government of Kawajima-machi’s plans to develop a 7.5 MW solar power plant at Umenokifurukori reservoir comes the announcement of Kyocera to develop the world’s largest floating solar power plant in the Chiba Prefecture, also in Japan.
In a Joint Venture with Century Tokyo Leasing Corporation, Kyocera TCL Solar LLC is not merely floating around the idea to put up a 13.4MW solar farm at the Yamakura Dam reservoir, it actually plans to put up the facility by March 2016.
The solar plant will use around 50,000 Kyocera modules to be spread out across 18 hectares (44 acres) of surface area. It’s expected to generate 15,635 megawatt hours (MWh) a year, which is enough to power approximately 4,700 homes. This will offset 7,800 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.
Kyocera TCL Solar is in charge of building and operation while Century Tokyo Leasing will provide project financing. The Kyocera modules will be placed atop floating platforms made by French company Ciel et Terre. Ciel et Terre also provided the platforms for Kyocera’s floating solar project in Hyogo Prefecture.
The power will be sold to Tokyo Electric Power Co. for around ¥450 million/year ($78.7 million/year). This project is one of around 30 floating solar power plants that Kyocera plans to put up all around Japan in their fiscal year 2015–16.
Japan has ironically been very dependent on nuclear power to drive their economy, Hiroshima and Nagasaki notwithstanding. It’s great that they’ve finally seen the light.
