Suzuki backs Solar Energy Boom in Japan

Suzuki Motor Corporation is moving ahead with the installation of a mega-solar power facility in Japan.

The facility will be built at the Nakazato Industrial Park in Makinohara and is part of the rapid increase in solar energy in Japan.

In the first half of this year twice as much solar capacity has been installed in Japan as in all of 2012.

Suzuki is making a request to the Chuba Electric Power Co., Inc. for the connecting of the power lines and is applying to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry for the approval of the facility which is scheduled to start operation in 2015.

Suzuki is a manufacturer of cars, light commercial vehicles, motorcycles and outboard motors and owns 42 hectares of land in the Nakazato Industrial Park. Because of its location, Nakazato is considered an ideal site for the power facility.

The facility will have a generation capacity of 18 megawatts which will be sold to the Chubu Electric Power Company. The capacity is sufficient to power 5,700 standard households, and Suzuki is investing 5.6 million yen, or about $67 million New Zealand dollars, in the project.

In addition, Suzuki is installing solar panels on unused land at Hamamatsu and on the roof of the company’s new additional Hamamatsu Plant.

The motor manufacturer will contribute to the local community through its solar power business, and strengthen its efforts on environmental problems by promoting local production of the energy for local consumption.

Solar energy generation in Japan is soaring, with the 350 percent growth in the past year partly attributed to the meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi plant and resulting fallout. From 1.7 gigawatts last year, the Japanese market is expected to grow to well over 6 gigawatts of installed capacity in 2013.

Japan will add more solar energy generation than any other country this year, and the government has a target of installing 28 gigawatts of solar by 2020.