Contruction begins on world’s biggest floating solar power plant

In a joint venture, Kyocera Corporation and Century Tokyo Leasing Corporation announced today that Kyocera TCL Solar LLC has started construction of the world’s largest^*1 13.7 megawatt (MW) floating solar power plant on the Yamakura Dam reservoir, managed by the Public Enterprises Agency of Chiba Prefecture in Japan for industrial water services.

Scheduled for launch in FY2018 (fiscal year ending March 31, 2018), the plant will be comprised of approximately 51,000 Kyocera modules installed over a fresh water surface area of 180,000m². The project will generate an estimated 16,170 megawatt hours (MWh) per year — enough electricity to power approximately 4,970 typical households^*2 — while offsetting about 8,170 tons^*3 of CO₂emissions annually. This is equal to 19,000 barrels of oil consumed^*4.

The project was initiated in October 2014, when the Public Enterprises Agency of Chiba Prefecture publicly sought companies to construct and operate a floating solar power plant to help reduce environmental impact.

With the decrease in tracts of land suitable for utility-scale solar power plants in Japan due to the rapid implementation of solar power, Kyocera TCL Solar has been developing floating solar power plants since 2014, which utilize Japan’s abundant water surfaces of reservoirs for agricultural and flood-control purposes. The company began operation of 1.7MW and 1.2MW plants in March 2015 followed by the launch of a 2.3MW plant in June. With Kyocera Communication Systems Co., Ltd. responsible for construction and Kyocera Solar Corporation undertaking O&M (operation and maintenance) of these projects, the Kyocera Group is cultivating the technology and expertise to construct, operate and maintain floating solar power plants.

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*¹ World’s largest floating solar power plant in terms of output. Claim is based on research by Kyocera TCL Solar LLC (as of January 15, 2016) of projects currently under construction and in operation.
*² Based on average annual use of 3,254.4kWh per household. Source: Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan (Graphical Flip-chart of Nuclear & Energy Related Topics 2015)
*³ Based on calculations derived from JPEA (Japan Photovoltaic Energy Association) standards
*⁴ Based on calculations derived from the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s

Source:  Solar Thermal Magazine