Kyocera Corporation, along with six other companies, today announced the completion of capital investment procedures for the establishment of Kagoshima Mega Solar Power Corporation, a new company tasked with operating a 70MW solar power plant in southern Japan.

The JPY27bn ($345mn) utility-scale solar power plant will become the largest in Japan. The new company will develop and operate the 70MW project in Kagoshima City, Kagoshima Prefecture, on land owned by IHI Corporation, one of the company investors.

The Kyocera Group, which is the largest shareholder in the new company, will be responsible for the supply of 100% of the solar modules and part of the construction & maintenance of the system. Construction is set to commence in September, with plans for completion by fall of 2013. Annual output from the solar plant is expected to be around 78,800MWh. Mizuho Corporate Bank is devising a financing plan for the project.

The other investors in the Kagoshima Mega Solar Power Corporation are KDDI Corporation; Kyudenko Corporation; Bank of Kyoto, Ltd.; Kagoshima Bank, Ltd.; Takenaka Corporation. When operational, the power generated from the Kagoshima City solar power plant will be purchased by Kyushu Electric Power Co., Inc. under the guidelines of the new feed-in tariff (FIT) programme implemented on July 1 in Japan.

Expectations and interest in solar energy have heightened to a new level in Japan with the need to resolve power supply issues caused by the effects of the Great East Japan Earthquake, and the start of the revamped FIT programme. Under the FIT, solar installations above 10kW are guaranteed payments of JPY42/kWh ($0.53/kWh) for a period of 20 years.