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Cooperating with Century Tokyo Leasing Corporation (TCL), Kyocera announced to build a mega solar PV power plant in Kato City, Hyoko Prefecture, Japan. The 2.9MW project will launch construction in this September and is planned to start operation in next April. When completed, it will become the world’s largest PV facility floating on water.
In order to take advantage of water surface, Kyocera and TCL formed a specialized joint venture “Kyocera TCL Solar Joint Venture” (京セラＴＣＬソーラー合同会社) to develop solar PV facilities that can float on water. They adopt Ciel et Terrer International’s floating technology, Hydrelio©, to create floating solar systems. According to Kyocera, Hydrelio is not only UV- and salt-proofed, it is also strong enough to resist typhoons when being connected, a crucial feature to Japan.
The solar project is consisted of two floating solar systems installed in two lakes in Kato City. The 1.7MW one will become the largest floating solar system in the world when completed.
Kyocera has been developing 28 solar systems (totaling 92.8MW) in Japan nationwide. As there are more and more large scale solar facilities to be built, it’s important to find adequate places for future projects. Accordingly, Kyocera starts to test on the floating solar systems. There are numerous reservoir in Japan to store water for industrial, agricultural and daily use and the wide surface can be a good choice for solar projects. Aside from the 2.9MW Kato City project, Kyocera is planning 60MW of floating solar system as well.
“Solar systems installed on the water surface can be cooled easily, meaning that it’s expected to have a higher power generating capacity than ground-mounted and rooftop solar systems,” pointed out Kyocera. “The water-covering solar modules can also reduce water evaporation under severe sunshine.”
(Photo Credit: Kyocera Corporation / Nikkei BP )