OSAKA, April 10 (Kyodo) — Major Japanese photovoltaic cell maker Kyocera Corp. said Tuesday it is considering building a 70,000-kilowatt solar power plant in Kagoshima in July.
The plant would be the second-largest mega solar facility in Japan after a 200,000-kw plant planned by Softbank Corp. in Tomakomai, Hokkaido.
It will be the first mega solar power plant to be built by Kyocera that has so far provided photovoltaic cells for such plants
Kyocera plans to construct the 25 billion yen plant consisting of some 290,000 Kyocera photovoltaic cells on a 1.27 million square-meter site to meet electricity demand of 22,000 standard households. The target date for launching its operation has yet to be decided.
Plans for mega solar plants have been emerging before a law takes effect in July to require electric utilities to buy all electricity generated by solar and other renewable energy sources in Japan.
Sharp Corp., another major photovoltaic cell maker, has teamed up with Softbank to plan mega solar plants in Japan. Foreign firms are also expected to join the Japanese solar power generation market.