Takasaki City in Gunma Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo, announced on January 12, 2005 that by the end of April this year it would install a photovoltaic (PV) system with a rated output of 100 kilowatts at the Takasaki Wholesale Produce Market. This market is for wholesale sales of fruit and vegetables and is operated as a joint public-private venture partly sponsored by the city. The system will be the largest scale PV system for a wholesale market in Japan.

The project uses the large roof of a refrigerated warehouse for fruits and vegetables in an open space that is not surrounded by high-rise buildings in Takasaki, an city blessed with many hours of sunshine each year. When installed, the 560 photovoltaic modules, covering some 800 square meters are expected to produce 96,000 kilowatt-hours annually (accounting for 11.5 percent of the current electricity supply contract), and thereby reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 19 tons a year.

This project is part of the FY2004 Field Test Project on New Photovoltaic Power Generation by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). The installation cost of around 54 million yen (about U.S.$524,000) will be borne equally by NEDO and the produce market, which expects to recoup its investment within 10 to 12 years.



Posted: 2005/05/31 02:30:49 PM
Japanese version

TAG Energy , Government , Local government