Social Good Engineering Magazine: GineersNow Social Innovation GineersNow Engineering Magazine Issue No. 001 | Page 80

Massive Floating
Solar Power Plant
R E N E WA B L E S
Japan’s electronics maker Kyocera Corporation has revealed
the world’s largest floating solar power station.
Photo Source: wccftech
T
he Japanese are seemingly
working hard towards
innovation. They are being
highly conscious towards
environment after the Fukushima
nuclear disaster in 2011. In fact,
the country is now more exem-
plary than ever. The country’s
electronics maker Kyocera Cor-
poration has revealed the world’s
largest floating solar power sta-
tion, claiming 11,250 solar panels
that are fully waterproof atop the
water’s surface.

The latest “mega-plants”
at Nishihira and Higashihira
Ponds in Kato City are the works
of electronics giant Kyocera
Corporation and Century Tokyo
Leasing Corporation. The work
has been completed in seven
months and can generate 3,300
megawatt hours (MWh) every
year. The station measures 333
meters in length and 77 meters
in width at an area of 25,000 sq.
meters. The electricity produced
at the plants are planned to be
sold to Kansai Electric Power Co.
in Osaka for about ¥96 million
($780,000) annually.

The company said that
the product is not just ty-
phoon-proof (due to their sturdy,
high-density polyethylene and
array design) floating solar plants
but are also superior to their
land-based equivalents because
of the cooling effect of the water
which allows them to function
more efficiently.

According to the report
shared by Korea Water Resourc-
es Corporation, “the benefits of
80
floating these panels on water
come in the form of energy
efficiency. The cooling effect of
the water beneath the solar cells
makes them 11 percent more
efficient than those on land, and
with the shade that these gian