There will be a further growth of newer applications such as  agrivoltaic, floating PV, along with rooftop PV as ground mounted PV shrinks in Japan due to the geographical constraints.

Floating PV system offers distinct advantage of using the water surface, which cools the solar panels and improves power generation efficiency, as well as benefiting the municipalities and agricultural businesses that own the water surface.  Furthermore, it doesn’t require deforestation, land development, or land cleaning processes.

Approximately 200,000 water reservoirs exist in Japan, and floating solar systems utilizing agricultural ponds are expected to see continuous growth. 

Please also check movie version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSkglt1pMRA

Taiyo Green Energy Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Taiyo Holdings Co., Ltd., started operation of the Chuo-ike Reservoir FPV Power Plant in May 2022 as their 14th Floating Solar Farm.

Location: Aza Ainotatsu, Shimo-ishino, Bessho-cho, Miki City, Hyogo Prefecture

Capacity: Power generation capacity: 2,300.1 kW

Equipment: PV module: JinkoSolar Inverter: Huawei Technologies EPC and floats: Environmental-Resources development Consultant

Start of Operation: May 13, 2022

Overview: Taiyo Green Energy Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Taiyo Holdings Co., Ltd., started operation of the Chuo-ike Reservoir FPV Power Plant in May 2022. EPC services and floats were provided by Environmental- Resources development Consultant. The annual power generation in the first year is expected to be about 3,013 MWh, and the electricity is sold to Kansai Electric Power at 12 Yen/kWh (8.12 cents/kWh) based on the FIT system. In October 2015, the company launched its first FPV power generation facility at a reservoir in Saitama Prefecture, and has so far opened a total of 15 FPV power generation facilities in seven prefectures: Saitama, Hyogo, Nara, Mie, Gifu, Aichi, and Kagawa. The total amount of power generated annually is expected to be about 26 GWh, and the generated clean energy exceeds the electricity consumption in the Taiyo Group’s electronics business in Japan. Taiyo Ink Mfg. Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Taiyo Holdings, has pledged to use 100% renewable energy to manufacture products for Apple from 2018.