GE has revealed a plan of investing in Japan’s largest PV plant in Setouichi, Okayama Province. This announcement is a representation of both GE’s entering to Japanese market and a more severe competition for the nation’s PV industry.
Covering an area of 500 hectares, the PV power plant, an 80 billion yen (approximately US $777 million) project with a capacity of 230MW, is scheduled to be completed in 2018. The PV plant will be operated by a Tokyo-based association Kuni-Umi Asset Management Fund (くにうみアセットマネジメント), a special-founded association combined by The Goldman Sachs Group Inc., IBM Japan, TOYO Engineering Corporation and other organizations.
To take the majority stake of this project, GE will invest between 10 billion yen (approximately US $97 million) and 20 billion yen (approximately US $194 million), according to Nikkei BP’s report.
“Because documents about this project have been publicly disclosed by the Setouchi municipal assembly, we can confirm that if certain conditions are met, GE plans to invest in the solar power project,” a spokesman for GE Energy Financial Services told Reuters.
When being completed, the PV power plant will generate power double by Softbank’s 110MW planned project and will become the largest one in Japan. At the moment, the largest power plant in Japan is in Kagoshima with a capacity of 70MW.