Mitsubishi Electric PV system powers Toyo Suisan's first solar installation

TOKYO, JAPAN: Mitsubishi Electric Corp. has completed installation of a 62 kilowatt (kW) photovoltaic (PV) system at Toyo Suisan Kaisha Ltd's Kanto Factory in Tatebayashi City, Gunma Prefecture, Japan. The installation, which is Toyo Suisan's first, has also become the largest PV system at a business operation in Tatebayashi City.

The electricity generated by a total of 330 PV modules installed on a surface area of 460 square meters will cover part of the electricity consumption used for air conditioning and lighting at the Toyo Suisan Group's largest instant noodle processing factory in Japan. Annually, the system is expected to generate approximately 60 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity and reduce 18.9 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

Toyo Suisan, the food processing and sales company well known for its Maruchan brand and also the leading company in the North American and Mexican noodle market, has to date put in efforts to tackle global warming by saving energy through changing boiler fuels to natural gas and replacing manufacturing facilities to inverter-driven equipment, as well as by planting trees on factory roofs.

To further reduce carbon dioxide emissions, Toyo Suisan decided to install a 62kW system at its Kanto Factory, partly funded by subsidies from the New Energy Promotion Council in Japan.

Meanwhile, Mitsubishi Electric is the only Japanese manufacturer that makes all key equipment that composes a PV system, such as PV modules and inverters in addition to power devices, which is the main component in inverters. Mitsubishi Electric was chosen to supply the entire system for this project as a result of high recognition for the company's product quality, reliability and the best system proposal.

Of the 62kW system, a 51kW system composed of 270 PV modules has been installed on the warehouse roof of the Kanto Factory, equipped with Mitsubishi Electric's three-phase 50kW PV inverter that will convert generated electricity into AC current. There is also a 11kW system of 60 modules on the main gate arch, whose electricity will be converted using a 10kW inverter, also supplied by Mitsubishi Electric.