Project aims to be operating on July 1 to take advantage of new feed-in tariff

March 5, 2012
The Kyocera Group (President: Tetsuo Kuba) and SoftBank Group subsidiary in charge of renewable energy business, SB Energy Corp. (CEO: Masayoshi Son; herein “SB Energy”), today announced that the two companies have been selected by Kyoto City to build and operate a 4.2-megawatt (MW) solar power plant. The utility-scale solar power plant will be the first of its kind in Kyoto Prefecture, and becomes the largest solar power installation in the prefecture.

Helping Kyoto move towards energy independence, Kyocera Group companies will be in charge of solar module supply (KYOCERA Corporation), system design and material procurement (KYOCERA Solar Corporation), and the construction of the mega-solar project (KYOCERA Communication Systems Co., Ltd.).

SB Energy will be the operator of the large-scale solar power plant, and aims to have the system operating in time for the start of the new feed-in tariff (FIT) which will go into place on July 1, 2012.

Approximately 17,000 Kyocera modules equaling 4.2MW of solar power will be installed at two facilities (2.1MW each) in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto City. This will generate roughly 4.2GWh of electricity annually, which is enough to supply power for approximately 1,000 households *1 .

The system will use Kyocera’s patented anti-dust modules which have a structure that prevents dust and water from collecting on the surface — by allowing rain water to wash off build-up via drainage channels along the frame of the module (these modules are only available to the Japanese market). This helps prevent the adverse effect of dust build-up on the module’s glass surface which decreases the power output.
Drainage channels along the frame of the module allow rain water to wash off dust from the surface

Kyocera holds the top share *2 in the Japanese market for installation volume of large-scale, public- and industrial-use solar power by meeting the diverse requirements of customers with a wide range of products and individually tailored engineering technology. Kyocera will continue to meet the needs of its customers and contribute to solving environmental problems starting with the reduction of greenhouse gases.

Location
Fushimi-ku, Kyoto City, Japan

Area
89,800m 2 maximum (still under design)

Power output
4.2MW (2.1MW at two locations)

No. of modules
Approx. 17,000

Annual power production (estimate)
Approx. 4.2GWh

Start of operations (planned)
No.1 facility: July 1, 2012
No.2 facility: September 1, 2012

*1 Based on calculation of 4,193kWh per household.
*2 As of March 2012, based on research by Kyocera.

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