Juwi Joint Venture Starts Construction of Further Solar Park in Japan
Wörrstadt, Germany / Tokyo, Japan - Since the reactor accident in Fukushima, Japan, in 2011, the Japanese government has been pushing the expansion of solar energy in particular as part of its efforts to restructure the country's energy supply. Juwi is also contributing to this development through its Japanese joint venture.
Juwi joint venture starts construction of largest project in company history
Just a few weeks ago, Juwi Shizen Energy Inc. received the EPC (Engineering, Procurement, Construction) order for the large-scale photovoltaic project "Pacifico Energy Sanda Mega solar" from the Japanese renewable energy project developer Pacifico Energy K.K.. Construction of the solar park, which is located in Sanda City in Hyogo Prefecture northwest of Osaka, is already underway.
The large-scale project with a capacity of 121 MW will be built on the site of a former golf course. The expected annual yield will be about 143 million kilowatt hours. The solar park is scheduled to go into operation in December 2023. It is the largest project to date in the history of the Japanese joint venture, which Juwi Shizen Energy is implementing as an EPC service provider.
"Juwi Shizen Energy also accepts orders for pure EPC construction projects from third parties, but is mainly involved in the implementation of projects developed by Shizen Energy", said Jan Warzecha, Managing Director of Juwi Shizen Energy Inc. The company has now completed EPC projects with a total capacity of over 315 MW. In addition, Juwi Shizen Energy currently has 426 MW of peak capacity under construction in Japan, including one of Japan's largest solar power projects "Azuma Kofuji 1 Solar Power Plant" (100 MW (DC)).
Japan's power industry transformation after the Fukushima nuclear accident
The severe nuclear accident in Fukushima in 2011 has subsequently led to a significant change in Japan's energy mix (electricity generation in 2019: about 950 billion kWh) and increased use of renewable energy. In 2019, hydropower (7.4 percent) and photovoltaics (also 7.4 percent) provided the highest shares of renewable energy in Japan. The reason for the high PV electricity share is Japan's solar program, which led to installed PV capacity of around 60,000 MW in 2019. Bioenergy follows behind with 2.7 percent.
Electricity generation from wind energy (0.76 percent) and geothermal energy (0.24 percent) currently lead only a shadowy existence. However, the expansion of wind energy and especially offshore wind energy is in the starting blocks. According to the government's plans, offshore wind energy in Japan is to be expanded to 30 to 45 GW by 2040.
Source: IWR Online, 12 Aug 2021
