Kyocera starts captive solar power generation to cope with power curbs

Diversified electronics components, telecom and imaging products group Kyocera Corporation today said it had raised solar power generation at its manufacturing plant at Tanagura in Fukushima, Japan, by 194kW to a total of 230kW, making it the largest installation at a domestic Kyocera Group facility.

With power supply shortages expected during the summer months in the aftermath of the 11 March earthquake, the Japanese government has placed restrictions on electricity use by high-volume customers of the Tohoku Electric Power Co and Tokyo Electric Power service areas to reduce electricity consumption by 15 per cent compared to last year.

The earthquake and tsunami, which hit Japan, caused closure of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and other plants resulting in acute power shortage in the country.

Japan currently has only 19 of its 54 reactors operating due to delays in restarting of reactors and with the forced shutdown of tsunami-hit plants.

In July, Japan implemented its first compulsory power for the first time in 37 years to ease power shortage in country following the damage inflicted to the power grid after the tsunami  (See: Japan implements compulsory power cuts for the first time in 37 years)

In response, Kyocera revised its installation schedule in order to achieve concrete energy conservation goals by rasising solar power generation by 194 kW, insterad of altering its production schedules.

This increase gives the plant a total of 230kW, which at peak performance, will cover 8.2 per cent of the energy use at the site, allowing it to reduce its consumption of grid-provided electricity.

Along with the solar energy it will generate, the facility expects to be able to achieve the mandatory 15-per cent energy reduction through measures such as using power generators, setting air-conditioning to 28 degrees Celsius (82.4 F), turning off unnecessary lighting, and setting all office computers to low-power mode.