Kyocera and Century Tokyo Leasing recently announced the construction of the world’s largest floating solar factory. The factory will generate electricity just off the coast of Japan, where many people are seeking renewable sources of energy in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster.
The site will be located on Yamakura Dam, which is in Ichihara City, Chiba Prefecture, in Japan. This is a great innovation not just because Japan is short on space, but also because it allows the solar panels to operate more efficiently, because the water acts as a natural cooling system.
Nobuo Kitamura, an executive at Kyocera said that he hopes this design will create a new path for solar development.
“When we first started R&D for solar energy in the mid 1970’s, the technology was only viable for small applications such as street lamps, traffic signs and telecommunication stations in mountainous areas. 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,” Kitamura said.
The project will be built with 50,000 solar panels and will generate an estimated 15,635 megawatt hours (MWh) of energy each year, making it the world’s largest floating solar site.
Kyocera has been involved in some very innovative solar projects in recent years, namely the recent offshore solar farm that they built in Japan. This solar factory also sits on water, but unlike the planned floating site, the one constructed last year is actually connected to land.
Kyocera has not specified when construction on this project will be complete.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQa30QxcR1M]
John Vibes writes for True Activist and is an author, researcher and investigative journalist who takes a special interest in the counter culture and the drug war.
