4MW Solar Started Operation in Miyama, Fukuoka

A so-called "third sector," a business venture financed jointly by the public and private sectors, started operation of a 4 MW solar power station in Miyama city of Fukuoka prefecture on 1st. It also commenced selling electricity to Kyushu Electric Power.

The third sector "Miyama Energy Development Organization" is financed by 40 corporations and individuals as well as the city and banks: it collected 1.2 billion JPY for the project.

At the opening ceremony, vice-mayor of the city said the project aims to return stock dividend of 5 to 10% to the investors.

Mainichi: Fukuoka Area: 2013/07/04
http://mainichi.jp/area/fukuoka/news/20130704ddlk40020401000c.html

Itogumi's New Method for Solar Stand on Weak Ground

Itogumi in Sapporo city, Hokkaido prefecture, announced that it had developed a new construction method of solar panel stand for weak ground and that it had recently completed three megasolar facilities as follows utilizing this method:

 -Two power plants of 1MW scale in Kushiro town
 -One of 500kW scale in Shiranuka town

The new method uses four steel pipes and embeds them deep into the ground. By combining those pipes with iron stands, it can easily install solar panels even on soft grounds or steep hillsides.

The company also released that it had recently started operation of 1.5 MW solar station in Makubetsu town, where the new method was not used.

Nikkei: Hokkaido Area 2013/7/3 23:41
http://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXNASFC0300H_T00C13A7L41000/
Itogumi (in English)
http://www.itogumi.co.jp/english/index.html

Rakuten Launched Energy Business in 3 Fields

The conglomerate of online shopping and internet services Rakuten launched its new business "Rakuten Energy" on June 28th.

The business division consists of three fields: "Renewable Energy","Energy Solution", and "Power Supply."

The first aims to sell packaged solar systems for industrial usage including a longer-term warranty as well as a special finance scheme.

The second is to cover reduction of energy consumption and also the Business Continuity Plan (BCP) in an emergency.

The third deals with "electricity + new service," which takes advantage of the value chain of the Rakuten group and its IT services.

The conglomerate has 70,000 partner companies and over 80 million member consumers.

Kankyo Business Online: 2013/07/01
http://www.kankyo-business.jp/news/005169.php

Booklet to Understand Merits and Demerits of Home Solar Facility

Ten members of the non-profit incorporated association "Nippon Association of Consumer Specialists" are preparing a booklet about both merits and demerits of home-usage solar facilities.

The consumers' centers throughout Japan received 4,407 complaints in the fiscal year 2012, which are 2.6 times of those of five years ago.

According to the National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan, most of the complaints are about less generation amount of electricity than previously explained by the constructor and/or the house maker.

Sankei: 2013.7.3 07:36
http://sankei.jp.msn.com/life/news/130703/trd13070307410002-n1.htm

Biogas Station in Operation in Nagaoka, Niigata

The biogas power station "Namagomi (Raw Garbage) Biogas Power Plant" in Nagaoka city, Niigata, started its full-scale operation on 1st.

The station utilizes kitchen waste to produce biogas.

The processing capacity is 65 tons per day and is of the largest scale among municipal biogas facilities in Japan.

The annual power generation is estimated to be 4.1 million kWh, which covers all the consumption at the biogas station itself and half of the garbage incineration facility adjacent to the station.

Niigata Nippo: 2013/07/01 17:22
http://www.niigata-nippo.co.jp/news/local/20130701052025.html

Sanyo Denki to Reinforce PCS Production by 70%

Sanyo Denki in Tokyo (not the famous Sanyo under Panasonic) will reinforce its production capacity of Power Conditioning Subsystem (PCS) by 70% and up to 2,150 units per month.

The company is also constructing a new factory in Philippines.

Asahi via Nikkan Kogyo: 2013/07/02 05:02
http://www.asahi.com/tech_science/nikkanko/NKK201307020009.html
Sanyo Denki (in English)
http://www.sanyodenki.co.jp/en/index.html

Coop Kobe to Start Solar Business

The consumers' cooperative society Coop Kobe announced on 1st that it would launch solar business.

By renting idle lands of other corporations and the roofs of factories it will install solar facilities of 10MW in total by March 2016. The invest will cost 3 billion JPY.

Kobe Shimbun: 2013/7/1 18:55
http://www.kobe-np.co.jp/news/keizai/201307/0006122180.shtml

Tokyo Gas and Yokohama City to Study Biogas Production at Sewage Plant

Tokyo Gas, in cooperation with Yokohama city, is going to study refinement of biogas produced in the process of sewage treatment.

The project aims to increase the combusition efficiency by 50 to 60% and eventually to export the technology to other countries.

Nikkei: 2013/6/28 6:00
http://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXNZO56702570X20C13A6L82000/

Sharp to Construct 38MW Solar in Tomakomai, Hokkaido

Sharp is going to construct a 38 MW solar station in the east of Tomakomai city, Hokkaido prefecture.

This will be of the largest scale among solar facilities by the company.

The investment will be 10 billion JPY, most of which will be financed by affiliation companies of the project.

Nikkei: 2013/6/29 2:00
http://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXNASDD280ID_Y3A620C1TJ0000/

Tottori City to Lease School Roofs to Solar Entrepreneurs in the City

The government of Tottori city, Tottori prefecture, announced that it would lease the roofs of nine of the municipal schools to entrepreneurs of solar power generation in the city.

The city takes applications from 1st to 22nd July. And it intends to start the operation in October.

The qualified applicants will have to pay more than three percent of the total sale of the electricity to be generated. The contract period is 20 years at maximum.

Yomiuri: 2013/6/30 12:36
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/atmoney/news/20130629-OYT1T01175.htm?from=ylist