The solar power division of Japanese consumer electronics and engineering firm Hitachi will act as engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) partner on a 43MW ‘megasolar’ PV project in Gunma prefecture, Japan.
The project will be in Showamura, a village in the primarily agricultural region of Gunma, which is in the centre of the main Japanese island of Honshu. Hitachi has agreed the deal with developer Ichigo ECO Energy, a division of Japanese asset management group and holding company Ichigo.
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Ichigo ECO Energy was selected by vote at a meeting of local landowners at the end of last year. Ichigo currently holds 30MW of PV generation capacity in Japan; with the new plant expected to bring that figure up to 73MW. The company announced on 10 April that land lease agreements had been finalised.
Construction is pencilled in to begin in October this year, for completion in April 2017. Dates are subject to approvals and construction work. This includes permitting for large-scale land developments, for which Ichigo is still awaiting approval from local authorities in Gunma Prefecture and Showamura. The plant has however already been approved by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) to sell electricity to Tokyo Electric Power.
Hitachi has declined to name its selected panel supplier. Ichigo Showamura Ogose ECO Power Plant, to give it its full name, will include 169,000 PV panels. The 82 hectare plant will generate 50,000MWh of power annually, enough to meet the demands of around 14,000 households. Hitachi claims the power conditioners it will fit to the power plant will “greatly improve power efficiency”.
The Showamura plant will receive the feed-in tariff rate of 36/kWh + tax. According to Ichigo, this means it will earn around 1.9 billion yen per year (US$18.7 million), for an expected investment cost of 13 billion yen (US$128 million). The plant will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 33 tonnes.