Kyocera to develop one of world’s largest floating solar power plants

Kyocera Corporation is to develop a 13.4MW floating solar power plant in Japan.

Kyocera has teamed with Century Tokyo Leasing Corporation to create a joint venture, Kyocera TCL Solar, to develop the floating solar project.

Kyocera TCL Solar will build, operate and maintain the plant, and Century Tokyo Leasing will provide project financing.

Around 50,000 Kyocera modules will be installed on floating platforms manufactured by floating solar specialist, Ciel et Terre.

The water surface for the installation is the Yamakura Dam reservoir, Chiba Prefecture in Japan, and will be managed by the region’s Public Enterprises Agency for industrial water services, after the agency sought developers to construct the floating solar power plant.

Operations are scheduled to begin in March 2016, following negotiations with the Tokyo Electric Power Company.

Once online, the solar power plant will generate 15.6GWh a year.

According to Kyocera, the solar power plant will be the world’s largest floating solar project once complete.  

“When we first started R&D for solar energy in the mid 1970s, the technology was only viable for small applications such as street lamps, traffic signs and telecommunication stations in mountainous areas,” said Nobuo Kitamura, senior executive officer and general manager of the Corporate Solar Energy Group at Kyocera.

“Since then, we have been working to make solar energy use more ubiquitous in society, and have expanded our business to residential, commercial and utility-scale solar applications. We are excited to work with our partners on this project, taking another step forward by utilizing untapped bodies of water as solar power generation sites.”

The development will use local community collaborations and provide an education centre opposite the solar site, to help develop the local community and promote solar energy.

Kyocera is also building a 2.9MW floating solar power plant, in Hyogo Prefecture, west Japan.