Nishigoya Opening ceremony 2013/10/27

Nishigoya Solar Power Plant of Ken Matsuoka began operation on October 15, 2013. The opening ceremony was held soon after - on Sunday October 27.

It was the sunniest Sunday you could wish for an event at a solar power plant.

.

Matsuoka started his address with self-introduction: "I'm Ken Matsuoka, chief of Nishigoya Solar Power Plant."

He laughed and the audience too. "Power plant chief" was an exact description of his role in the project, and yet the words somehow sounded too big. Not many people can introduce themselves as power plant chiefs. Not many people know someone who'd be a power plant chief. I was proud to be one of them.

.

Among the guests there were family members and friends who volunteered their time to help build the plant, and also some VIPs - like the father of solar sharing Akira Nagashima and Japan's ex-prime minister Naoto Kan.

.

Here at the ceremony I heard for the first time the story of how it all began a year and a half ago:

By a series of coincidences, Ken Matsuoka happened to visit the Naoto Kan's office as a technical support for an interview. During the interview, Mr. Kan showed them materials on his desk: "Look at these amazing renewable energy projects."

On the desk, Matsuoka saw a photo of solar sharing. "I just found what I want to do," he allegedly murmured.

Next day he contacted Akira Nagashima.

.

About the plant:

Matsuoka's plant consists of 579 panels (100W/panel) installed on a metal frame at the height 3.5 meters over an area of about 1500 m2. The plant's capacity  - maximum output to sell to electric utility - is 49.9 kW.

A special feature of Matsuoka's plant is a winch allowing to change the tilt of all 579 panels (more than 8 tons) at once. The device, according to Matsuoka, didn't cost more than 1 % of the total investment, but it could increase the output by about 5 % - that is a significant number over 20 years.

We could see the effect of the winch at the ceremony.

First, Matsuoka and four selected guests turned on five inverters - this was a power plant version of ribbon-cutting ceremony:

At this point, the output rose from zero to over 30 kilowatts. As you can see on the picture, panels are in flat, horizontal position.

Next, panel tilt was adjusted to face the sun. A guest turning the winch:

On the next picture you can see that the panel angle has changed:

After the adjustment, the output reached 49 kilowatts - almost the maximum.

.

Solar age

Akira Nagashima in his address talked about the future of solar power as cheap energy. "The price of solar panels is steadily falling. We're approaching the age of 100 yen per watt. " (100 JPY  = about 1 USD. Today typical retail price of solar panels in Japan is still about 500 yen/watt. )

.

I believe Nagashima - who's been familiar with solar industry for over a decade - was right when he said: "Until now solar energy was considered to be safe but expensive. From now it will be safe and cheap."

.

What next

For Matsuoka, opening the plant is not the goal but the beginning. Creating value from the soil under the panels is the core philosophy of solar sharing.

.

Ken Matsuoka will certainly do his best to live up to this ideal.