As Japan seeks to end reliance on nuclear power, one of the answers is floating 'solar islands'. A 70MW solar island opened last year, and two additional plants have just been announced.

 

Two companies in Japan recently announced they are to begin building two large solar power islands that will float on reservoirs.

 

This follows smartphone maker Kyocera's Kagoshima Nanatsujima Mega Solar power plant, the country's largest at 70 megawatts, which opened in late 2013 and is found floating in the sea just off the coast of southern Japan.

 

The two new solar islands, to be built by Kyocera and commercial partners, will form a network of thirty 2MW stations - adding another 60MW of solar capacity.

 

The move comes as Japan looks to move on from the Fukushima disaster of 2011 and meet the energy needs of its 127m people without relying on nuclear power.

 

Before the incident around 30% of the country's power was generated from nuclear, with plans to push this to 40%. But Fukushima destroyed public confidence in nuclear power, and with earthquakes in regions containing reactors highly likely, Japan is now looking for alternatives.

 

Solar power technology already exists, so producing enough solar power comes primarily down to one thing: space. For countries such as the USA with lots of sparsely populated land this is not an issue, and there have already been a large number of solar farms installed around the country.

 

But Japan where space is limited, more inventive solutions are required. This is the principle reason behind the decision to move their solar power generation offshore.

 

While the land is highly congested, and therefore expensive, the sea is largely unused. It therefore makes a good degree of sense to use this space for floating power plants.