In September 9th, a fire broke out in the solar power plant at the dam of the dam in the original city of the county. The power plant, jointly invested by Japanese manufacturing giant "Jing sera" and "century" of Itochu commercial group, was put into operation in March 2018, and is Japan's largest solar power plant on water.
The total capacity of the power plant is 13700 kW, with more than 50,000 solar panels, which can meet the daily needs of 5,000 households.
Solar power generation is common in Japan. According to the survey data released by the World Bank and the Singapore Solar Energy Research Institute in October 2018, the capacity of hydropower plants worldwide reaches 1.1 billion watts. It is worth mentioning that more than 50% of the top 100 countries with solar power generation on water are concentrated in Japan. The scale of the fire power plant is second only to the 2 solar power plants in China's province, ranking third in the world.
Why are there so many water power plants in Japan? The answer is simple: there are few land resources.
Japan began to implement the Fixed Price Purchase System for Renewable Energy (FIT) for solar power in 2012, which led to the rapid increase of ground solar power plants. The shortage of local resources in Japan has been further compressed, and many power plants have to consider relocating to mountainous and hilly areas. However, it is very difficult to exploit the mountainous and hilly areas, and the destruction of environmental resources is also a problem, so Japan has directed its eyes to the sea. Large and small solar power plants have been built on the water surface.
Advantages and hidden dangers coexist
Aquatic solar power plants have many advantages, the first of which is small investment. Because solar panels are placed on the sea, land resources can be saved in the first place. In addition, on the water surface, solar panels are also more efficient in generating electricity (water has the largest specific heat capacity and good thermal storage effect). And local governments have also introduced different support policies (such as the Shancang Dam power plant, as long as the total annual power generation value reaches 21.7 million yen, and guarantees at least 20 years of operation, tax-free), which has promoted the development of water solar power plants.
On the other hand, solar power generation on water also has a natural defect - the hidden danger of strong wind weather.
Although the pillars supporting the solar panels hit the underwater land, the "floating" solar panels on the surface of the water are still difficult to stand in the face of strong wind weather. Especially when strong winds cause huge waves, they are a deadly blow to power plants. Therefore, it is particularly important to choose where to build a factory.
The burning Shancang Waterborne Solar Power Plant used previously verified facilities made of high density polyethylene, but failed to overcome Typhoon 15. In this regard, Beijing Sera's responsible person said: specific causes of the fire will cooperate with relevant enterprises to carry out investigations, including preventive measures for similar incidents that may occur in the future.
Up to now, water solar power plants do not have the same standard documents as land solar power plants. Although Japan's New Energy First Industrial Technology Development Agency (NEDO) really makes efforts to plan, at this stage, more enterprises have to explore by themselves.
The fire destroyed dozens of solar panels, though not many in number. However, from aerial photography, there are still many solar panels burned down in different locations and degrees. For operators, the reasons should be identified as soon as possible, and accident prevention measures should be introduced. Otherwise, more and more nearby residents may oppose the construction of hydropower plants.
