Daiwa Energy Co., Ltd. has completed the repowering of its DREAM Solar Hyogo Toyooka PV power plant in Toyooka, Hyogo Prefecture. The project is the company’s largest repowering project to date, with both power generation and electricity sales revenue expected to increase by up to approximately 40% in the first year.

The plant, which has been in operation for approximately nine years, underwent a comprehensive upgrade of its PV modules and power conditioning systems (PCSs) to improve generation efficiency and ensure long-term stable operation. The existing 245 W monofacial PV modules (8,820 modules) were replaced with 445 W bifacial modules (4,862 modules). The total DC capacity remained almost unchanged at approximately 2.16 MW.

The use of bifacial modules is one of the notable features of the project. A white multilining sheet was installed across the site to provide both weed-control and light-reflection functions. By utilizing reflected light from the ground, the system is designed to improve the power generation performance of the bifacial modules.

The PCS configuration was also changed from three 630 kW centralized units to 18 distributed 105 kW units. According to Daiwa Energy, the distributed configuration can reduce the impact of individual equipment failures on overall plant operation, while improving maintainability and reducing operating costs.

The project also includes the reuse of the PV modules removed during the repowering. The removed modules will be reused as second-hand PV modules through Itochu Metals rather than being disposed of. The number of modules to be reused has not been disclosed.