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Japan has been focusing on finding spaces well-suited for solar power that might otherwise go unused. Recently, solar power company Kyocera announced that it was building huge floating solar power plants that covered inland bodies of water like reservoirs, projects that both provided clean energy and were beneficial to the reservoirs themselves.
Now, the company has turned their attention to the several abandoned golf courses in the country, with plans to build large solar farms on the land. These golf courses feature large amounts of unused open land, few shade trees and high sun exposure -- all of the things you need for a productive solar farm.
The company has just started construction on a 23-MW solar power plant on an abandoned course in Kyoto Prefecture. It will generate an estimated 26,312 MWh per year -- enough to power 8,100 local homes. The company calculated that number based on the average household electricity use of 3,254.4 kWh per year.
When finished, it will be the largest solar power installation in Kyoto Prefecture.
How much power could be generated by covering parking lots with solar panels?
Kyocera and Century Tokyo Leasing, along with two other companies, also announced recently that they are developing a 92MW solar power plant at a site in Kagoshima Prefecture. The site was originally designated as a golf course over 30 years ago and then was abandoned.
In the bigger picture, are we looking at a solar uptake of abandoned golf courses? Are we to see more large-scale solar projects go up on golf-course land otherwise going unused? The press release said, "In the United States, several cities in states such as Florida, Utah, Kansas and Minnesota are having public discussion and considering proposals on how best to repurpose closed golf courses."
Advantages for groups with solar interests are evident in courses characterized by expansive land mass, high sun exposure and a low concentration of shade trees.
In Japan, embracing solar energy is easier said than done, however. PV-Tech, which focuses on news about the solar PV supply chain, put this in perspective. The site noted Japan's shortage of land for large-scale solar initiatives, with the government "now offering incentives to developers building PV plants on landfill sites" while at the same time showing reluctance to approve plant development on agricultural land.
Courses left idle are now under analysis for repurposing or redevelopment, said Kyocera. The glut is a reflection of golf-property overdevelopment, in the real estate boom of the 1990s and 2000s.
Andy Colthorpe in PV-Tech said earlier this month, "A legacy of Japan's early 90s boom years, the country's obsession with golf led to the development of many golf courses that have since proven economically unsustainable."
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(Score: 2) by mojo chan on Tuesday July 07 2015, @07:36AM
Gold courses have large areas of grass where not much lives, because there is no shelter or cover or anything much to eat. So while you could argue for taking it back to agricultural use, putting solar PV here isn't going to damage anything that is already there (except maybe some grass).
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