The total capacity of solar panels is about 700kW. Photo: JX
business

Solar plant starts operation in Aichi

19 Comments
By Shinichi Kato, Nikkei BP CleanTech Institute

JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy Corp (JX) says that a solar power plant with an output of about 700kW has started power transmission in Aichi Prefecture.

JX develops and runs solar power plants by using about 7,000 square meters of idled land owned by the JXTG group. This time, the plant was built on the site of the former "Gamagori Gas Terminal" in Gamagori City, Aichi Prefecture. The total capacity of solar panels installed at the plant is about 700kW while the plant transmits 499kW of electricity to a power grid.

Electricity generated at the plant is sold to Chubu Electric Power Co Inc at a price of ¥24/kWh (excluding tax). JFE Technos Corp, which is an engineering firm affiliated with the JFE group, provided EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) services for the plant.

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19 Comments
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Fantastic news!

Now if only the Japanese government would subsidise domestic power generation!

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Can we make more please?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Well done! More! And more money for research and development into ways to improve solar power and other renewable energy sources.

Petroleum is a valuable resource; it's too valuable to keep burning in the amounts we have been. And it's not worth the social, environmental and economic costs that come with it.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

But wait. There's more. An interesting bit of the article is the figure of 700 or so kW capacity and 500 kW or so to the grid. OK. It is not really that much, but I wonder what it means.

It might mean that they are devoting about 200 kW of capacity to some other operation. Maybe they are using it for gas processing or pumps or ??? at a nearby installation. Or it might just mean that on most days, they are not going to reach 700 kW capacity and that they expect to send about 500 kW to the grid. Hard to know. For me it is the most interesting thing about the article.

And why is the gas terminal not being used? One would think that Aichi would be using a lot of gas these days because it is cheap, and nuclear is shut down. Maybe it is the result of consolidation of operations with some other companies.

OK. Finally, the numbers are interesting. There are A LOT of projects like these, which I could consider to be medium-sized, and they are getting less for each kWh than they used to. I think that the FIT is being managed beautifully by the government. It used to be that you could get something like 45 Y per kWh and now that has come all the way down to 24 Y per kWh. That means A LOT of cheap power is coming online at pretty low rates. That is good for utilities and good for consumers and good for the environment. But the operators are still doing it, so it must be profitable.

By the way, 24 Y per kWh is just about equal to what most people pay, retail, for electricity. Watch what happens when that 24 FIT number drops to 20 or 18 or something like that. At just about the same time, the retail price of electricity will bump up to 30 and beyond. Things will get to be really interesting then. We won't need to PUSH solar. The market will PULL it.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

"Can we make more please?"

Of course we can, but "please" is not going to cut it. If we create the conditions under which people can make long term contracts to supply power, then financing and planning and engineering are NO PROBLEM.

Don't be a client. Don't think that people are doing this out of the kindness of their hearts. Look at the policy and see how it succeeds, and then give credit where credit is due. Examine what is happening rationally here and you will see that the UTILITY is serving a vital role. Support the government and the utility that made it possible for this project to be successful.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

5speed - some pertinent points, but I have some probs with supporting concerned govt & utilities based on my personal knowledge of 2 cases in my prefecture.

In one case a hectare or so of natural forest was bought and cleared and solar panels erected. The neighbouring community was literally kept in the dark. The local govt said they have no control over private land use and anyway "it's a good thing". Because of shade by adjoining trees a further strip was cleared and now is a barren space. At least 3 houses views of trees have been replaced by panels and lines and one house has had to install outdoor blinds because of glare.

The other case is a pretty farmland area where the plant is an eyesore to the surrounding houses - literally plonked in the middle.

In both cases the govt seemed to be pushing it's idea of a "green agenda", without taking into account a variety of impacts. Likewise the companies involved.

Of course there will always be hiccups - some major - with the development of new industries esp in the renewable field, but from my limited experience to date, I can already see faults in the planning and implementation process. Not unlike other seemingly haphazard developments that can be witnessed countrywide.

This all makes me wonder if govts have serious long-term, clear cut, public involved, comprehensive plans for the renewables industry or leave it primarily to bureacrats & Inc.?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

This is a pretty small solar plant, but is very interesting none the less. On a piece of land that is not being used, the site of a former gas terminal, solar panels, enough to power maybe 200 homes, have been installed. Also, parking lot structures, and roof tops, are examples of places where panels can be installed. I am not familiar with the use of land in Japan, but I imagine that most flat land is in need as farmland. Previously on this web site an article was published showing solar panels floating on a water reservoir in Japan, another smart use of space.

We recently had solar panels installed on our rooftop. Ten panels have a theoretical capacity of 3.25 kWh, and produce enough electricity to offset all of our electrical use for one year. We estimate that we will get our investment back within 8 to 10 years, a rate of return higher than bank interest rates, and the life of the panels may be as long as 35 years, roughly the life of the roof tiles. In addition, the panels are mounted a few inches above the tiles, providing cooling to the roof during the hot summers here in the American Southwest.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Solar panels over water might impact the ecology system as less sunlight gets through.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I can't say anything bad about people posting here. Literally. But here is this.

"Now if only the Japanese government would subsidise domestic power generation!"

OK. A moment for that to sink in. Now look at this:

"Electricity generated at the plant is sold to Chubu Electric Power Co Inc at a price of ¥24/kWh (excluding tax)."

It is a really short article. How could someone miss that? In actual fact, the FIT under which that power is being supplied to Chubu IS a subsidy. In 2012, the government MANDATED that power companies buy power from providers at different rates set by a government panel every year. It is a subsidy! That amount of 24 yen is HIGHER than what JFE is paying to produce the electricity, and it is guaranteed money for JFE. I would go so far as to say that this is BETTER than just giving JFE money because JFE actually has to produce the power and get it to the grid, or they don't get paid. But if they do that, then they get paid. No graft. No corruption. No delays.

Oh. Who cares right? HERE IS WHY YOU SHOULD CARE! The government and utilities are supporting 100% of the renewable energy in Japan! It is not hippies with big wallets and people who hate nuclear power. People who hate nuclear power have forced Japan to use COAL. They do NOTHING for renewable energy. So people who post garbage like "The government should DO SOMETHING." are flying a flag of ignorance.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

"At 500kWh, and the current FIT rates will produce a profit of about ¥24 million per year and nearly ¥500 million over 20 years. Not sure why not sell the whole 700kWh into the grid with FIT at ¥24/kWh compared with the industrial charge of about ¥17.5/kWh.""

First, they might not be generating the whole 700 kWh. 700 kWh is the rated capacity, which they will be lucky to hit, well, once a year. They can probably hit 500 kWh for about 4--5 hours per day, so maybe they contract for that and keep the gravy, if any, for their own operations. Second, we have no idea of what their "profit" is, if any. Third, maybe they cannot sell more than a certain amount to the grid, or maybe they made a deal with the utility to trade peak for off peak power. Who knows. It is usually poor form to just assume that you have thought of something they haven't. It is more likely that YOU don't know something than that THEY don't.

"This is a pretty small solar plant, b"

I can't call it small. One solar panel would be, let's say 250 W, and this is 700 kW, so it is 2800 panels. About a soccer pitch and a half. So, you know, that is about 200 houses worth of panels. There are many projects larger than this "in the American Southwest," but this would be about medium sized in Japan.

browny1. I guess you did not understand what I said. If those projects you described have problems with local governments or individuals, well, too bad. You have NIMBY problems and grouchy people. Nothing can overcome that. My point was that the national government and the utilities establish conditions under which renewable CAN be developed. Nobody is making promises that anybody WILL develop it, or do so to everyone's satisfaction. And frankly, nobody is doing much else.

My personal opinion is that people should be allowed to put panels on junk land, and that Japan has plenty of forests. If you have too few forests where you live, MOVE. (I have too much forest. Want some? I literally have four trees popping up right in my yard, and I don't want em. I will probably chop down two tomorrow. I might transplant them. Might.) Japan has difficulties with producing its own energy and meeting greenhouse gas obligations. That is a policy priority. The panels MUST be near where people live, or they aren't really of much value.

But whatever, you are describing a case of people being GREEN and demanding a high standard of living while telling people that nuclear is bad, and coal is bad, and wind is bad, and solar is bad, but please keep my electricity rates low. There are tons of people like that living in Marin county, and Chiba and they contrive all sorts of reasons to keep people from using their land as they see fit. That is why nuclear power plants that serve Chiba get put in Fukushima, after all. I would love to see every anti-nuclear activist in Tokyo, Chiba and Saitama put PV panels on their roof, just to root out the hypocrites.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Zichi, it looks like you are learning and understanding a lot of the basics. Here is something you should try. Make a model of how such a grid would work. Then put some numbers to it and see how it works. It will open your eyes as to what will be needed to make a system that can meet everyone's needs, and it will show you the dead ends. Start small. If you get weird results, examine your assumptions and try again.

Only after you have done that, you need to ask and answer the question of who is going to pay for all of the necessary changes. You will probably find that there really are very few options. The future is not as wide open and pretty as people imagine.

Then you can look backward on why Japan is in the situation it is in. The heroes and villains are not whom they appear to be. Strategies have changed and compromises have been made.

I find the whole exercise intensely interesting. You will find that most people have no clue about where we came from or where we are going. You'll see.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Just think of how much electricity could be produced if all of the large building were fitted with panels, my friend who owns a farm generate 39 Kwts most sunny day the government could offer a tax break for those who installed new panels on big buildings this would help the GDP

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Readers, please keep the discussion civil.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

5speed - thank you for your reply. Is all of your post after my name browny1 addressed to me? Just wondering because you seem to know more about the cases I mentioned than I do. I can only assume that we're neighbours.

And to borrow a line of yours - " I guess you did not understand what I said". I was merely commenting on what I perceive to be 2 fails by govt concerning solar utilities in my neck o'. Nimbies, Grouchies, Greenies have nought to do with the my discussion.

This is my opinion though - the inevitable substantial growth of the renewable enrgy industry over the ensuing decades, will see the need for great development foresight, planning, legislation and sustainable expansion by both govt and companies. This for one, will need to take into account communities and how 21st C "progress" weaves itself into such. Indiscriminate development has already blighted many areas, often uneccessarily so. The previous post example I gave of a small part of a forest cut to erect a solar plant, when 200 metres away old south facing farming land was available - albeit at a higher price. Common sense would dictate that all parties could have had a win, win situation - but no. Slack bylaws and interests disengaged from the local community won out.

No Nous.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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