Kyocera says its total accumulated production of solar modules since 1975 has exceeded the company’s 5 GW milestone, as of June 20.
For comparison, 5 GW of solar modules would be sufficient to supply individual 3.5-kW PV systems for more than 1.4 million homes. In the current fiscal year (April 2014 to March 2015), the company is targeting annual production of 1.4 GW, up from approximately 1.2 GW in the previous fiscal year.
Kyocera’s rapid increase in solar production in recent years has been spurred by rising global demand for renewable energy resources, says the company. This has become most evident in Japan over the past few years, where a feed-in-tariff program launched in July 2012 has seen a rise in the adoption of solar. Kyocera has also taken proactive measures to further its solar business by becoming an independent power producer.
Kyocera installations include:
- Kagoshima Nanatsujima Mega Solar Power Plant: a 70 MW solar field in Kagoshima Bay, one of Japan’s largest solar power plants.
- AV Solar II: a utility-scale installation in Arizona, U.S.A., using 25 MW of Kyocera modules.
- U.S. Light Energy: 9.4 MW of installations in New York State, U.S.A., financed by Kyocera.
- Thai PV Program: Solar farms at 35 locations totaling approximately 260 MW.
- Salamanca and Dulcinea, Spain: Kyocera modules power Planta Solar de Salamanca (13.8 MW) and Planta Solar de Dulcinea (28.8 MW).
The company says its solar production will expand even further if a recently announced concept near Nagasaki, Japan, comes to fruition. Five companies including Kyocera have reached a basic agreement to investigate the possibility of operating a 430 MW solar power project on the island of Ukujima, which would be the largest in the world to be implemented on agricultural land. The project plans to utilize approximately 1,720,000 of Kyocera’s high-output multi-crystalline silicon solar modules to create a 430 MW system that would generate an estimated 500,000 MWh per year.
For more on how Kyocera keeps going and going and going, try these articles:
Kyocera Solar Powers Large Australian Roof-Top System
Kyocera, Four Other Companies Agree On Plan For 430MW Project
Kyocera Invests In Solar Projects Valued At $38M