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Abandoned gold courses transformed to solar power plants – Japan

Japan has started turning abandoned golf courses into solar power plants, Business Insider,  ARIEL SCHWARTZ  JUL 17, 2015,…….. developers built too many golf courses over the last few decades after demand shot up in the 1980s. Now the industry is in decline, with participation in the sport down 40% from the 1990s, and abandoned golf courses are starting to pop up.

Kyocera’s solution: turn the abandoned green space into solar farms. Japan has been hungry for alternative energy ever since the 2011 Fukushima disaster made nuclear power an unattractive option in the country, and golf courses just happen to be perfectly suited for solar power — they’re large open spaces that often get lots of sunlight.

Kyocera’s first project, now under construction, is a 23 megawatt solar plant on a golf course in Kyoto prefecture. When it goes live in 2017, the plant will produce enough power for about 8,100 households.

The company is also developing a 92 megawatt solar plant — generating enough energy for over 30,000 households –……….http://www.businessinsider.com.au/japan-has-started-turning-abandoned-golf-courses-into-solar-power-plants-2015-7

July 31, 2015 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, renewable