World's Largest Floating Solar Power Plant

Jan 26, 2016

Solar power company Kyocera TCL Solar and its partner company Century Tokyo Leasing Corporation have begun constructing the world’s largest floating solar plant, in Chiba, near Tokyo that floats on a reservoir and will produce about 16,170 MW hours per year -- enough for 4,970 typical households. 

The 13.7-megawatt solar plant will consist of some 51,000 Kyocera waterproof solar modules covering an area of 180,000 square meters. The company previously installed this technology in two smaller power plants over ponds earlier last year.

In Japan agricultural land is limited, and rooftop solar has really taken off, water-based solar power is another way to rack up some clean energy, without taking up extra space. Kyocera will anchor the platform to the bottom of the reservoir and the setup will remain safe even if typhoons come, which Japan experiences almost every year.

The platform uses no metal; high-density polyethylene resistant to corrosion; recyclable and the sun is the only source for storing energy. The company is currently working on developing at least ten more such projects and they are planning to install floating solar plant overseas as well. The cost of the solar power station is not made public yet. But, as claimed by Kyocera, the cost of the floating support modules making up the platform is higher than that of platforms used in land-mounted installations. 

Source:http://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/renewables/japan-building-worlds-largest-floating-solar-power-plant