Canadian Solar Inc. says three of its Japanese solar power projects totaling 42 MW (Oita Kitsuki, Gunma Takasaki and Yamaguchi Hofu) have reached commercial operation.
The projects are powered by Canadian Solar bifacial BiHiKu modules. The expected generated energy was purchased under Japan’s feed-in-tariff program for approximately 19 years at the rates of JPY32 (US $0.24), JPY14.49 (US $0.11), and JPY14.25 (US $0.10) per kilowatt-hour. Together, these projects are set to produce about 53,000 MWh of renewable energy that will power approximately 15,000 households, avoiding an estimated 24,000 tons of annual carbon emissions.
“The Oita Kitsuki project was our first project where we installed a static synchronous compensator (STATCOM), a more challenging power quality requirement that will meaningfully help improve the grid’s reliability given the growing number of interconnected solar farms,” says Dr. Shawn Qu, Canadian Solar’s chairman and CEO.
