Mott MacDonald named owner’s engineer for Solar PV project in Japan

Pacifico Energy K.K, the Japanese solar power developing and operating company has awarded the London-based multidisciplinary consultancy group to play role in the Sakuto solar photovoltaic (PV)’s construction, to be located in Mimasaka-shi.

The contract commits Mott MacDonald to supervise the civil, electrical, structural and instrumentation system implementation work. Moreover, the company is in charge of reviewing document submissions and detailed plant designs.

Mott MacDonald’s project director Philip Napier-Moore commented: “Sakuto fits in with Japan’s broader strategy to reduce dependency on nuclear power. It also will help the government meet its ambitious capacity targets to provide 64GW of solar PV electricity, both rooftop and ground-mounted, by 2030.”

The project comprises 8,000,000m3 of soil movement within the site for filling and flattening the land as well as the building of a new 77kV, 17km-long underground transmission line. When completed, the Solar PV plant is to supply electricity for twenty years to the Chugoku Electric Power Company. It is also expected to reduce CO2 emissions by around four million tons.

Philip Napier-Moore added: “We have supported Pacifico Energy K.K. on nine projects that are either already operational, under construction or in development, with an estimated overall capacity of 723MW. Altogether in Japan, Mott MacDonald has supported over 100 solar projects that have a combined capacity exceeding 2,500MW.”

The 257.7MW Sakuto solar PV plant is to be operational for the end of 2019.