The is a
solar power
Solar power, also known as solar electricity, is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Solar panels use the photovoltaic effect to c ...
generating station located in
Kagoshima
, is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 583,966 in 285,992 households, and a population density of 1100 persons per km2. The total area of the city is .
Etymology
While the ...
, Japan. It sits on a platform of reclaimed land on the coast of
Kagoshima Bay
also known as Kinkō Bay, is a deep inlet of the East China Sea on the coast of Japan.''Merriam Webster's Geographical Dictionary, Third Edition'', p. 562.
Kagoshima Bay is on the south coast of the island of Kyūshū. The port city of Kagoshi ...
. With a capacity of 70 MW, it was formerly the largest solar plant in Japan.
History
The site at Nanatsujima formerly consisted of seven islands, but decades ago a large, flat platform was
reclaimed
Land reclamation, often known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamation ...
from the sea for industrial use. The site was purchased by IHI Corporation for use as a shipyard, a plan that was never realised. The site lay idle for many years.
Construction of the solar plant began in September 2012. Construction and engineering was carried out by Kyocera Solar Corporation, Kyudenko Corporation, and Takenaka Corporation.
[ The plant went online on 1November 2013. At the time of commissioning, it was the largest solar plant in Japan, and the first in the country with a capacity over 50 MW.]
Facility and operations
The power station occupies an area of approximately . It has a capacity of 70 MW, generated by 290,000 solar panels.[ The station also has a public tour facility called the Kagoshima Nanatsujima Solar Science Museum.
Operation and maintenance of the plant is carried out by Kyocera and Kyudenko.]Kyushu Electric Power
is a Japanese energy company that provides power to 7 prefectures (Fukuoka, Nagasaki, Ōita, Saga, Miyazaki, Kumamoto, Kagoshima), and recently, to some parts of Hiroshima Prefecture. Its shortened name of is sometimes used. In 2011 the c ...
under the Japanese government's feed-in tariff
A feed-in tariff (FIT, FiT, standard offer contract,Couture, T., Cory, K., Kreycik, C., Williams, E., (2010)Policymaker's Guide to Feed-in Tariff Policy Design National Renewable Energy Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy advanced renewable tariff, ...
programme.[
The impact of volcanic ash, from nearby ]Sakurajima
Sakurajima (, ) is an active composite volcano, stratovolcano, formerly an island and now a peninsula, in Kagoshima Prefecture in Kyushu, Japan. The lava flows of the 1914 eruption connected it with the Ōsumi Peninsula. It is the most active vo ...
, on the plant's generating capacity has been a point of concern. Five lorries with high-pressure cleaning equipment are kept at the power station so that volcanic ash can be washed off the solar panels. However, the cleaning equipment had not been used in the first three years of operation as the accumulated ash washed off the panels naturally.
Ownership
The plant was developed by Kagoshima Mega Solar Power Corporation, a consortium of seven companies, namely: Kyocera Corporation
is a Japanese multinational ceramics and electronics manufacturer headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It was founded as in 1959 by Kazuo Inamori and renamed in 1982. It manufactures industrial ceramics, solar power generating systems, telecommun ...
, KDDI Corporation
() is a Japanese telecommunications operator. It was established in 2000 through the merger of , , and . In 2001, it merged with a subsidiary named Au, which was formed through the merger of seven automotive and mobile phone companies from t ...
, IHI Corporation
, formerly known as is a Japanese engineering corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan that produces and offers ships, space launch vehicles, aircraft engines, marine diesel engines, gas turbines, gas engines, railway systems, turbocharge ...
, Kyudenko Corporation, Kagoshima Bank, Bank of Kyoto, and Takenaka Corporation
is one of five major general contractors in Japan. Takenaka provides architectural, engineering, and construction services and has its headquarters located in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture. Takenaka has eight domestic offices in Japan with ...
.[ The land upon which the plant sits is owned by IHI Corporation and leased to the consortium.][
]
See also
* List of power stations in Japan
A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...
* Solar power in Japan
Solar power in Japan has been expanding since the late 1990s. Japan is a large installer of domestic PV systems, with most of them grid connected. The country was a major manufacturer and exporter of photovoltaics (PV), with a global market share ...
References
External links
* {{Commons category-inline, Kagoshima Nanatsujima Mega Solar Power Plant
Buildings and structures in Kagoshima
Photovoltaic power stations in Japan
2013 establishments in Japan
Energy infrastructure completed in 2013