‘Floating mega-solar plants’ switched on in Japan

Japan has announced that its "floating mega-solar power plants" have come online in Kato City, Hyogo Prefecture.

Project developers Kyocera Corporation and Century Tokyo Leasing Corporation announced this week that their high profile installations at Nishihira Pond and Higashihira Pond have been completed.

The companies confirmed that the projects were officially inaugurated in March and are now providing power to the grid.

The plants will provide a combined 2.9MW of capacity and are expected to deliver 3,300MWh of power annually, approximately the equivalent needed to power 920 typical homes.

Electricity generated from the floating power plants will be sold to, Kansai Electric Power, the local utility, using Japan's feed-in-tariff system, which has helped to establish Japan as one of the world's largest solar markets in recent years.

Floating solar installations have a number of benefits over conventional applications including the fact they don’t compete with agricultural land and have no impact on food production.

Floating turbines also reduce evaporation from reservoirs and reduce algae growth.

The cooling effect of the water also boosts the conversion efficiency of the panels, leading to increased energy production.

The Brazilian government is now reportedly working on plans to install giant 350MW plant near the Balbina hydroelectric plant, while plans are also underway for a number of arrays on reservoirs in California in the United States