Abandoned Golf Courses + Solar Farms = Renewable Energy Source

The disaster in the Fukushima nuclear plant in 2011 had Japan looking for better energy sources and found it in abandoned golf courses, which will be turned into solar farms very soon.

While many cities are being advertised for their golf courses that had been designed by famous pro golfers, the golf courses in Japan, which were constructed in the 80s when there was a huge demand for them, are currently being abandoned. This is because participation in the sport of golf had dropped to about 40 percent.

So, rather than having these large open spaces flattened for redevelopment, they are going to be turned into an alternative energy source. With them all open and getting the full benefit of sunlight, they are simply perfect to be converted into solar farms.

Kyocera, the largest electronics manufacturer in Japan, had already started constructing a 23-megawatt solar farm in Kyoto, which is projected to provide power to more than 8,000 Japanese homes. A larger one, that is capable of producing 92-megawatts of solar power is being planned to produce energy for more than 30,500 homes in Osaki Town, Kagoshima in the island of Kyushu.

This is a first of its kind project for Kyocera, since the company’s main business is the manufacture of solar panels.

Planning and construction

The first one, the 23-megawatt power plant is set to for launching in 2017. The larger solar power plant, which will generate almost 99, 230MWh a year, was started in 2014. The golf course will contain 340,740 solar modules that will cover about 2 million square meters of space.

The idea is a very sound one and some cities in the United States such as Minnesota, Kansas, Utah and Florida are also looking into it. Golf courses are laid out in vast tracts of land. They have already scarred the landscape and use large amounts of water. Since land is a precious commodity in Japan, recycling these favorable areas makes a lot of sense.

The solar farm in Kyoto, which will be the largest solar plant in this prefecture, will join the growing list of solar farms in Japan. There is already one in Kanoya City and also a floating solar reservoir located at Hyogo Prefecture’s Kasai City.

Image Copyright: Alpha Energy Management Inc.