Mega Solar Plant offers Japan a nuclear free roadmap
It’s been a almost three years since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, when an earthquake-triggered tsunami caused a nuclear power plant to leak more radiation than any other since the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe. Since then, more than 50 power plants have sat idle awaiting appropriate maintenance or declared redundant.
Anti-nuclear campaigners see a safe, renewable future for Japan with solar a strong player. Claims that dozens of nuclear plants could be replaced by solar farms came to fruition with the launch of the 70 megawatt Kagoshima Bay Mega Solar Plant that went online in November 2013.
The plant is capable of generating power for over 22,000 homes and takes up 316 acres, more than three times the area of Vatican City and takes one and a half hours to circle on foot. It skirts the issue of ground availability by propping out over the water. With Japan’s growing population and land mass at a premium this is a neat solution to a delicate problem.
Japan’s enthusiasm for solar increased following a government restructuring of the feed-in tariff scheme in light of the 2011 earthquake.
The installation is a landmark solar achievement for the country, joining Sony’s Solar Ark. Constructed in 2002 to mark the company’s 50th anniversary, the Solar Ark generates 530,000 kilowatt-hours annually and has since become property of Panasonic after a corporate takeover in 2011.
Once contentious issue with ground mounted (or… sea mounted?) solar farms is getting the electricity from its place of generation to houses and buildings without too much loss. Luckily Japan’s populous means that whenever you can generate electricity there’s probably people that can use it.
The issue of floating solar arrays – strings of solar panels gently drifting across the surface of the ocean – have been proposed but failed to gain traction. Would it be feasible for Australia? Well, our cities are not exactly far from the oceans now are they?
