Japan: Turning abandoned golf courses into solar power plants

        Solar power plant in Kagoshima Prefecture                     (C)Kyocera

 During the real estate boom in Japan between 1980 and 2000, developers built too many golf courses without a plan B for a downtime. With the industry in a decline of 40% participation from the 1990s, abandoned golf courses are starting to pop up.

Japan on the other hand has been in need of alternative energy since the aftermath of the 2011 Fukushima disaster, which has made nuclear power an unattractive option in the country.

Kyocera and its partners have taken the initiative of making best use of these abandoned golf courses by turning them into solar farms. Already, they have started construction on a 23 megawatt solar plant project located on an old golf course in Kyoto prefecture and is scheduled to go operational in  September 2017. The electricity generated would be enough to power approximately 8,100 local households. More constructions are meant to spring up in other abandoned golf courses as the year rolls by.

                       3MW Project in Miyazaki Prefecture                    (C)Kyocera

Another company, Tokyo-based Pacifico Energy, is building a 42-megawatt solar plant on a golf course in the Okayama Prefecture and are planning go operational by second quarter of next year.

It’s always nice to see countries taking initiatives on dilapidated structures as against leaving it for many years until it becomes a liability. I hope countries with similar problems learn from this.