July 29, 2013 - Kyocera Corporation announced that Kyocera TCL Solar with Century Tokyo Leasing Corporation, has begun operation of a 2.4 megawatt solar power plant in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. The Takamatsu Ikushima Mega Solar Plant is the first to be launched under the company's business plan to operate up to 35 small- to mid-size utility-scale solar power plants in Japan. A ceremony marking the start of the plant's operation was held on July 25th with representatives from the local community and related companies.
Kyocera and Century Tokyo Leasing established Kyocera TCL Solar LLC last year, with Century Tokyo Leasing as the main shareholder. Century Tokyo Leasing finances solar projects with Kyocera supplying 100% of the solar modules, system construction and ongoing maintenance.
In addition to the Takamatsu Ikushima Mega Solar Plant, ten similar projects are already under construction or in the planning stages. Five of these ten plants will have capacities less than 2MW, thus eliminating the cost of high-voltage transmission lines. Including these plants, the company plans to undertake up to 35 projects within two years — all small- to mid-size utility-scale power plants, which can be constructed faster than larger utility-scale installations. All electricity generated will be sold to utilities through Japan's FIT system.
Kyocera's sales of industrial solar modules, notably for mega-solar projects, have increased since the launch of Japan's new FIT in July 2012. The company expects its Japan-market shipments of industrial solar modules to grow 250 percent in the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2014 (FY2014) compared with FY2013. The company plans to ship more than one gigawatt of solar modules worldwide in FY2014, an increase of 25% from 800MW in FY2013.