Japanese landfill ready for mega solar project

Seven firms throw their support.

The Osaka Hikari-no-mori project will now commence construction at the Hokko Landfill Site in Osaka, Japan, following this announcement.

The seven are Jupiter Telecommunications Co., Sumitomo Corporation, Sumitomo Electric Industries, Daihen Corporation, Hitachi Zosen Corporation, Rengo Co. and NTT Facilities.

The project, whose name translates to Osaka Forest of Light Project in English, will have a PV capacity of 10MW.

It has been described as a “mega-solar power generation project” to be implemented in cooperation between the public and private sectors.

Mega-solar power generation facilities will be established at Osaka's Hokko Landfill Site in Yume-shima with the participation of companies from the private sector. Because parts of the site will continue to be used as a landfill, it is difficult to use for any other purpose.

In 2010 companies were invited to propose new ideas for the effective utilisation of the landfill site. Sumitomo Corporation and Sumitomo Mitsui Finance & Leasing Co. jointly proposed to develop a PV system at the site based on a Solar-power Group Share which seeks contributions from a consortium of companies.

The seven companies aim to conclude a project agreement with the city of Osaka in order to commence work on the project later this month.

The companies plan to develop a 10MW PV system at the site which is scheduled to begin operations by autumn 2013. The project will cover approximately 15 hectares of land at the site.

Electricity generated from the plant will be sold to Kansai Electric Power Co. under the recently launched feed-in tariff. The proceeds from the sale of the generated electricity to the power company will be distributed to participating companies in proportion to the cost they bear.

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