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Japan's largest rooftop solar plant to be built in Osaka

5 Comments
By Kenji Kaneko, Nikkei BP CleanTech Institute

ESR has announced that it will build a solar power plant with an output of about 7.5MW on the roof of a distribution center in Suminoe-ku, Osaka.

It will be the largest-scale rooftop solar power plant in Japan.

The distribution center consists of two buildings. The first building was completed in November 2016, and about 3.5MW of solar panels were installed on its roof. The second building is scheduled to be completed in February 2018, and about 4MW of solar panels will be set up on its roof.

The number of solar panels will be 28,160 in total (total output: 7.462MW).

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5 Comments
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This is great news. I hope we'll see more solar in more places worldwide. Is ESR a Chinese corporation?

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This is great news. I hope we'll see more solar in more places worldwide.]

Amen. Solar energy costs have more halved in the last few years. Despite the best efforts of vested interests to sabotage the shift to solar it is trumpeting ahead. Half of Germany's as well as California's energy will be solar by 2030. These are major economies, yet half their energy needs will come from solar. Also by using solar we can ensure that people in the third world will have access to cheap electricity which will also spur their economies as solar ensures that their factories will be powered more cheaply. All of Japan really needs to get behind this.

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Osaka area people will have cheap monthly utilitynbill.

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Yes, what is ESR?

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"This is great news. I"

Yes. But why? Well, first of all, somebody else is paying for it, which makes it great instead of just good, right? Unfortunately, that is not true. The owners of the system will get some amount of money for every kWh they generate and put into the grid. That will be about 30 yen. It might be 28. On average that is about equal to the amount that most residences pay for electricity, so the utility is not making anything on the deal. BUT the electric company WILL increase the surcharge it puts on every kWh that customers use. That is about 2.5 yen now. Go check your electric bill it says it right there plain as day. So....

"Osaka area people will have cheap monthly utilitynbill"

Nope. Don't count on it. As I said above, you will likely be paying MORE on your electric bill.

People, let's back up and look at what policy is doing to society. I am all for solar power, but do not fool yourselves into thinking that it is some panacea for Japan's energy problems, or that "someone else" is paying for it. This system, which is not even built yet, will provide only about a quarter, probably more like a fifth of its stated capacity, and will do so only during daylight hours. It is the equivalent of solar panels on 1000-2000 residences, so that is "great," but it will not make your power cheaper, and it will not supply 7 MW unless the conditions are absolutely ideal. Like maybe 10 times per year.

If you like to pay more for electricity to stop global warming, this is GREAT. Otherwise, it is just another bill that you pay that keeps getting higher.

Over-optimism, just like over-pessimism, needs to stop.

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