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FeedSource: [PhysOrg] collected from rss-bot logs

Time: 2015-07-04 22:09:15 UTC

Original URL: http://phys.org/news/2015-07-kyocera-solar-farm-idle-golf.html [phys.org]

Suggested Topics by Probability (Experimental) : 44.4 science 11.1 hardware 11.1 digiliberty 11.1 careersedu 11.1 careers 11.1 OS

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Kyocera to bring solar farm transformation to idle golf course

An emptied golf course is going sunny-side up. Kyocera kicked off July with its announcement that "Abandoned Golf Course in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan to be Repurposed with 23-Megawatt Solar Power Plant from Kyocera TCL Solar LLC."

Kyocera TCL Solar LLC is Kyocera's joint venture with the Century Tokyo Leasing Corporation. They have started construction of a 23-megawatt (MW) solar power plant [phys.org] on an abandoned golf course in Kyoto Prefecture. Specifically, this is happening in Fushimi Ward, where Kyocera established its first major solar energy research center in the mid-1970s.

Kyocera said that the new plant will become the largest solar power [phys.org] installation in Japan's Kyoto Prefecture. The plant will generate about 26,312 megawatt hours a year. The electricity generated will be sold to the local utility, Kansai Electric Power Co., through Japan's feed-in-tariff system.

The company said that is enough electricity to power approximately 8,100 typical local households. They arrived at that number based on the average annual use of 3,254.4kWh per household. The attribution was to the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan.

Construction began on June 28.

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 [businesswire.com] 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 [phys.org]? 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 [pv-tech.org].

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 [phys.org] courses [pv-tech.org] that have since proven economically unsustainable."

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