The Second "Solar Fund by Citizen" by Zec Sold Out

The solar entrepreneur Zec in Tokyo announced that the company's second "solar fund by citizen" was sold out as the first did in May.

The project is named "Kashimanada No.2 Solar Power Lot Fund." It collected 141 units of about 70 million JPY in total from 42 people.

The company is going to start the construction of the second station of 192 kW.
It aims to build 2 MW solar facilities every year.

Kankyo Business: 2013/08/30
http://www.kankyo-business.jp/news/005614.php

Nasu-Shiobara City to Build Microhydro

Nasu-Shiobara city of Tochigi prefecture is going to install a microhydro power station at the Torinome water purification plant.

The plant takes water of an average of 15 thousand cubic meters per day from Nasu Canal.

The pipeline which connects the plant and the canal has an elevation of 51 meters, of which the project is to harness.

The output capacity of turbine is not publicized, while the annual generation of electricity is estimated to be about 400 thousand kWh. The investment will be 120 million JPY.

Sankei: Area Kanto: 2013/8/25 02:11
http://sankei.jp.msn.com/region/news/130825/tcg13082502110004-n1.htm

IHI Enviro's Small Co-generation Utilizing Biogas from Food Sewage

IHI Enviro in Tokyo recently developed a small-scale co-generation system which utilizes biogas from organic sewage from food factory etc.

The sewage is processed in the "IC reactor," or internal circulation reactor.
The company is conducting a field test in Oita prefecture.

According to the company, the operation cost of the new facility is one twentieth of that of conventional activated sludge process. And the installation area will be one hundredth.

Nikkan Kogyo: 2013/08/27
http://www.nikkan.co.jp/news/nkx0520130827aaao.html
IHI Enviro (in English)
http://www.ihi.co.jp/ike/en/index.html

JCU Concluded Agreement on Solar with Takigawa City, Hokkaido

The metal plating company JCU in Tokyo concluded an agreement with Takigawa city of Hokkaido prefecture on its project of 1.2 MW solar power station.

The construction of the station will be completed in August 2014.
The investment will be 380 million JPY.

The company has sold and installed many solar systems, but this is the first case of operating a solar station.

Asahi: via Nikkan Kogyo: 2013/8/29 05:01
http://www.asahi.com/tech_science/nikkanko/NKK201308290012.html
JCU (in English)
http://www.jcu-i.com/english/index.html

Nissei Plastic Industrial Started Operation of 500 kW Solar in Sakaki, Nagano

Nissei Plastic Industrial started the operation of a 500 kW solar system on its factory roofs in Sakaki town of Nagano prefecture.

3,520 panels were installed. And the investment is 150 million JPY except construction cost.

Kankyo Business: 2013/08/29
http://www.kankyo-business.jp/news/005609.php
Nissei Plastic Industrial (in Engish)
http://www.nisseijushi.co.jp/en/index.html

Producing Hydrogen by Sunlight: Experiment Starts in October in Miyazaki

Miyazaki University is going to start in October a field experiment to produce hydrogen by beam down-type solar light collector.

The system concentrates rays of the sun to a point, which causes heat of high temperature (about 1,500 degrees Centigrade).

Putting metallic oxide such as iron and zinc or water vapor to the heat, the system produces hydrogen.

If the production becomes stable, the hydrogen can be utilized for fuel cells.

The team aims at the practical application by 2020.

Yomiuri: Area Miyazaki: 2013/08/30
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/e-japan/miyazaki/news/20130829-OYT8T01540.htm/

Nabari Kintetsu Gas's 0.7 MW Solar Completed in Nabari, Mie

Nabari Kintetsu Gas completed the construction of a 0.7 MW solar facility at its gas factory in Nabari city of Mie prefecture. The operation is going to start on September 1st. The electricity will be sold to the group company.

The facility has 2,912 photovoltaic panels and the total investment is 200 million JPY.

Sankei: 2013/8/30 03:08
http://sankei.jp.msn.com/region/news/130830/mie13083003090001-n1.htm
Nabari Kintetsu Gas (in Japanese)
http://www.kintetsugas.co.jp/

Solar in Heavy Snow Region: Ongoing Project in Hirosaki, Aomori

Hirosaki city of Aomori prefecture recently settled its project to install four solar systems at elementary schools and other facility in the city.

The city held a seminar on 21st to present the result of the field test which had been done in January and February this year.

The field test showed that both-faces solar panels with 60 degree angle were the most efficient in generating electricity in mid-winter. Using both-sides type, the system could catch reflected light from snow. Also, the 60 degree angle could avoid thick fallen snow.  

Mainichi: Area Aomori: 2013/08/28
http://mainichi.jp/area/aomori/news/20130828ddlk02020089000c.html

Shizuoka Prefecture to Invite Tenders of 40 MW Floating Wind Station in November

Shizuoka prefecture is considering a floating wind power station near Omaezaki port.

According to the government's study so far, nine big-scale wind turbines of total 40.5 MW at maximum can be installed in the off-port area.

The municipality is going to invite tenders for the project in November and to settle the business entity by June 2014.

SmartJapan: 2013/08/19 09:00分
http://www.itmedia.co.jp/smartjapan/articles/1308/19/news016.html

"Insomnia from Wind Turbine": Man Seeking Provisional Disposition in Tahara, Aichi

A farmer in his forties petitioned the district court of Nagoya Toyohashi Branch for a provisional disposition to stop a wind turbine in Tahara city, Aichi prefecture.

The wind turbine of 1.5 MW scale is run by Mitsuuroko Green Energy in Tokyo and is located 350 meters from the farmer's house.

The farmer claimed that just after the turbine had started operation he had been distressed by its noise to be suffered from insomnia as well as neck pain and headache.

Now he sleeps in the night in a studio at five kilometers from the turbine.

According to a survey by the municipality, the noise level was 45.3 decibel, which is beyond the wind company's set point of 35 decibel.

Yomiuri: 2013/08/27 00:08
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/national/news/20130826-OYT1T01052.htm

Kansai Electric Power to Build 290 MW Hydro in Laos

Kansai Electric Power announced on 27th that it would build a hydro power station of 290 MW scale in Bolikhamsai Province, Laos.

The electricity to be generated will be sold to public corporations of Laos and Thailand for 27 years.

The joint company in which Kansai EP (45%), the public corporation of electricity in Thailand (30%), and that in Laos (25%) invested will conduct the whole project.

The invest amount has not been publicized, but it is estimated to be tens of billion JPY.

Nikkei: 2013/8/27 22:35
http://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXNASDD270K4_X20C13A8TJ2000/

Ene Seed NOK Started Construction of 2.3 MW Solar in Kitakyusyu, Fukuoka

Ene Seed NOK, in which Chiyoda Corporation and Ene Seed jointly invested and founded, started the construction of 2.3 MW solar station in Kitakyusyu city, Fukuoka.

The "Ene Seed Kishi" solar station with 8,800 panels will generate 2.42 million kWh annually and all the electricity will be sold to Kyushu Electric Power.

The invest amounts to 560 million JPY.

This is the fourth solar station for the joint company.

Kanaloco: 2013/08/27
http://news.kanaloco.jp/localnews/article/1308270021/
Chiyoda Corporation (in English)
http://www.chiyoda-corp.com/en/index.html
Seibu Gas: News Release: 2013/02/06
http://www.saibugas.co.jp/info/kouhou/htmls/nr788.htm

Tokyo Metropolitan Government to Finance Six Megasolar Projects via Public-Private Fund

Tokyo Metropolitan Government has conducted a public-private infrastructure fund, which is the first case of this kind in Japan.

The government recently settled six new cases of loan and investment.
All of them are megasolar projects in the country.

A) Loan and investment led by Sparx

 1) SGET Saga Megasolar, Saga prefecture
    Output 1.8 MW, Total Investment 700 million JPY, Operation Start October 2013
 2) SGET AKita Megasolar, AKita prefecture
    2.6 MW, 900 million JPY, December 2013
 3) SGET Tsumagoi, Gunma prefecture
    2.2 MW, 900 million JPY, January 2014
 4) SGET Nakai, Kanagawa prefecture
    9.8 MW, 3.9 billion JPY, April 2015
 5) SGET Kushiro, Hokkaido prefecture
    21.7 MW, 8 billion JPY, June 2015

   *SGET=Sparx Green Energy & Technology

B) Loan and investment led by IDI Infrastructures

 6) Shirakanezaka Megasolar, Kagoshima prefecture
    8.0 MW, 2.5 billion JPY, August 2015

Kankyo Business Online: 2013/08/26
http://www.kankyo-business.jp/news/005574.php

Showa Shell to Build a 49MW Woody Biomass: Biggest in Japan

Showa Shell Sekiyu is going to build a woody biomass power plant of 49 MW scale, which will be the biggest in the country.

The power station will be made in its idle land of old oil factory in Kawasaki city, Kanagawa.

Woody pellets, as well as palm husks which can be imported from southeast Asia for cheap price, will be fuel for the electricity generation.

The revenue from electricity sale under current FiT scheme is estimated to be 10 billion JPY per year.

The company will start construction in May 2014 and the operation start will be in December 2015.

Smart Japan: 2013/08/08 09:00
http://www.itmedia.co.jp/smartjapan/articles/1308/08/news020.html

Underground Thermal for Air-Conditioning: Study Started in Fukushima

Fukushima prefecture, together with Nihon University and the architectural designer Jyukankyo Sekkeishitsu (both in Koriyama city), started a practical test on underground thermal heat pump for house usage.

Today it is popular to make a deep‐drilled well of about 100 meters for house thermal pump.

However, the project uses ten of ten-meter deep piles which are filled with non-freezing solution. (The floor space is 80 square meters.)

The project team sees that relatively shallow level of thermal heat is enough for house usage and that it can cut the initial cost into 2 million JPY including heat pump.

Nikkei 2013/8/8 20:59
http://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXNASFB08044_Y3A800C1L01000/

Fuji Electric Industry's Solar Monitoring System

Fuji Electric Industry in Kyoto (*different from Fuji Electric in Tokyo) will start selling the monitoring device on solar panels "SMH series" in October.

The new device can observe generation output of each string of panels to prevent electricity loss.

The master unit for 20 thousand JPY each is able to monitor 30 strings at most.
And a sensor unit costs 14 thousand JPY per unit.

Asahi via Nikkan Kogyo 2013/8/26 05:01
http://www.asahi.com/tech_science/nikkanko/NKK201308260010.html
Fuji Electric Industry
http://www.fujidk.co.jp/english/

Polus Group is Accelerating Solar Business

The house maker Polus group in Koshigaya, Saitama, is to progress its solar business.

The group's first megasolar of 1.0 MW scale in Shioya town of Tochigi prefecture started operation in May this year.

Daiichi Energy, one of Polus's affiliate companies, is going to build a 1.4 MW solar station in Nasu town of Tochigi. It will commence operation in January 2014.

Moreover, Polus-Tech is to install two solar facilities on the roofs of its factories. The output capacity will be 500 kW in total.

The group companies intend to feedback the know-hows from the megasolars into their residential solar business.

Sankei Biz: 2013/8/26 07:30
http://www.sankeibiz.jp/business/news/130826/bsc1308260730004-n1.htm

Myclimate Japan and GS Yuasa to Conduct F/S on Mini-Solar in Ethiopia

The carbon offset provider Myclimate Japan in Tokyo, together with GS Yuasa, is going to conduct a feasibility study on small-size solar facility and cell-phone charger in off-grid areas of Ethiopia.

The research project is financed by JICA.

Nikkei BP: 2013/08/20
http://business.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/emf/20130820/252425/
Myclimate Japan (in Japanese)
http://jp.myclimate.org/jp/portrait/about-myclimate-japan.html

Bonds to Finance 1.0 MW Solar in Awaji Island Sold Out

According to Hyogo prefectural government, all the bonds which the municipality had issued to finance its solar project in Awaji island sold out after 22 days.

The bond was named "Awaji environment future island bond," if translated into English.
And it collected 400 million JPY from 470 residents.

The official in charge said that the selling speed was much faster than expected, even though that the interest rate was as low as 0.33 %.

The solar station of about 1.0 MW scale will be completed in March 2014.

Kobe Shimbun: 2013/8/24 07:04
http://www.kobe-np.co.jp/news/shakai/201308/0006276941.shtml
Hyogo Prefecture: The Bond:
https://web.pref.hyogo.lg.jp/kk08/miraijimasai.html

Nippon Carbide to Build 1.0 MW Solar in Uodu, Toyama

The chemical firm Nippon Carbide announced that it would install a 1.0 MW solar station in its idle factory in Uodu city of Toyama prefecture.

All the electricity will be sold to Hokuriku Electric Power.

The station will start operation in July 2014.

Hokkoku Shimbun: 2013/08/24 02:34
http://www.hokkoku.co.jp/subpage/K20130824305.htm

Sparx to Build 2.17 MW Solar in Kushiro, Hokkaido

Sparx group is going to install 2.17 MW solar in Kushiro city of Hokkaido prefecture.

All the electricity will be sold to Hokkaido Electric Power.

The company aims at start operation in June 2015.

Nikkei: 2013/8/23 23:30
http://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXNASFC2300I_T20C13A8L41000/
Sparx:
http://www.sparx.jp/company/outline.html