Toshiba awarded major order for mega solar power generation project by Hokuriku Electric Power for Shika PV power station

TOKYO, JAPAN: Toshiba Corp. has won a major contract to develop a mega solar photovoltaic power generation project for Hokuriku Electric Power Co., under which Toshiba's system will be installed in the Shika Photovoltaic Power Station.

When completed, the plant will have a generating capacity of approximately 1 megawatt (MW). The order is the seventh that Toshiba has secured for a multi-MW PV project, and positions the company as supplier of almost half the mega solar power plants ordered by electricity utilities in Japan.

The Shika Photovoltaic Power Station is located in Ishikawa prefecture and is one of two solar photovoltaic power plants to be commissioned and operated by Hokuriku Electric Power, along with the Toyama Photovoltaic Power Station in Toyama prefecture.

Construction will start in November and the plant is scheduled to come on line in February 2011. Once in operation, the Shika Photovoltaic Power Station will have an annual capacity of approximately 1 million kWh, sufficient to generate electricity for approximately 250 households.

Toshiba was selected as prime contractor for development of the Shika plant, and will be responsible for all engineering work prior to the start of construction, the procurement of major equipment and components, and plant construction. The variable output of the photovoltaic cells will be converted to clean AC by integrated 250kW output power conditioners developed by Toshiba Group.

A conversion efficiency of 97.5 percent assures that the power conditioners are the world most efficient in their class, and the industry's highest class for power conditioners installed in a mega solar photovoltaic project. The plant will also be equipped with highly efficient multi-crystal photovoltaic modules from Kyocera Corp.

Driven by a growing awareness of the need to counteract global warming, the global market for solar photovoltaic systems for utilities and industrial plants is expected to reach 2.2 trillion yen in fiscal year 2015.

In this environment, Toshiba is drawing on its extensive experience in system integration, particularly in system technology for high efficiency photovoltaic inverters and microgrids and in deploying large plant system engineering capabilities, to promote the growth of its photovoltaic systems business.

Toshiba Group will aim to secure further contracts for multi-MW PV projects and to achieve a rapid expansion of the business, both in Japan and overseas, by focusing on renewable energy and energy-saving products and technologies.