Giant solar power for an airport built on a 25° steep slope

Today we will talk about Nagasaki Airport, a giant solar-powered airport built on a slope.

Nagasaki Airport is known as the world's first sea-based airport. It is located in Omura Bay in central Nagasaki Prefecture and was developed on Mino Island, about 1km off the coast on the Omura side of mainland Kyushu, and opened in 1975.

When you come to take Nagasaki, Japan, drive south along the Minami Shirahama Road that runs through the town, turn through the forest from the coastline to the land side and you will see solar panels neatly arranged on a steep slope before entering the tunnel. The black panels covering the entire hillside are a sight to behold!

In fact, the tunnel with solar panels can be seen from near the entrance, passing underneath Nanki Shirahama Airport. The runway is directly above the tunnel. The giant solar panels are mounted on a slope to the south-west of the airport ground.

Nagasaki Airport is one of the largest solar power plants adjacent to an airport in Asia. This solar power plant is the Nanki Shirahama Solar Way, operated by Kokusai Kogyo, a member of the Japan Asia Group.

With 2.5088 MW of solar panels and 1.995 MW of interconnected output, it is expected to generate approximately 3,231,429 kWh per year, equivalent to the electricity output of approximately 729 average households!

This is the largest solar power plant already in operation in Nagasaki Prefecture. Even taking into account projects approved by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) that are not yet in operation, the only projects of this size in the prefecture are the 400 MW interconnected power plant on the floating island and about 480 MW of solar panel output.

The amount of electricity generated after operation varies from month to month, but is said to be stable throughout the year, and in all years is 5-10% higher than the approximately 37 million kWh forecast at the time of planning.

The project is being developed and operated jointly by liquefied petroleum (LP) gas company Chopro (Nagayo Town, Nagasaki Prefecture) and solar panel manufacturer Solar Frontier (Minato-ku, Tokyo). The power producer is Nagasaki Solar (Nagayo Town), a special purpose company (SPC) established through a 50/50 joint venture between the two companies.