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13.2MWSolarPlantBuiltUsing3DMeasurement
Workloadalleviatedbyaccuratemeasurementofundulations
ShinichiKato,NikkeiBPCleanTechInstitute

2015/09/1617:30

The"NagasakiTadewaraMegaSolarPowerPlant"isamega(largescale)solarpowerplantwithanoutputof
about13.2MWthatwasconstructedinthemountainsinTadewaramachi,NagasakiCity(Fig.1).Itwaslocatedona
sitethathadpreviouslybeenplannedforagolfcourse,andwascompletedinApril2015.

Fig.1:"NagasakiTadewaraM egaSolarPowerPlant"situatedonasitethathadoriginally
beenplannedasagolfcourse.A13.2M Woutputmegasolarpowerplantwasconstructedin
themountainsinTadewaramachi,NagasakiCity.(source:NikkeiBP)

Thepowerproduceris"NagasakiTadewaraSolarJV,"aspecialpurposecompany(SPC)financed50%by
MitsubishiCorp'swhollyownedsubsidiaryDiamondSolarJapanKK(Chiyodaku,Tokyo),40%byTodaCorpand
10%byMitsubishiUFJLease&FinanceCoLtd.
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Regardingtheformergolfcoursedevelopmentofabout112ha,roughly28hawasusedforthemegasolarpower
plant(Fig.2).Partofthelandhadalreadybeenreclaimed.

Fig.2:About28haoutofthe112haformergolfcoursedevelopmentwasused.Ittookabout
oneyeartoacquirepermissionandapproval.(source:Toda)

Constructionloadalleviatedbyaplanbasedonaccurateprojectionsof
undulations
Thesitehadbeenroughlyreclaimedatthetimeofgolfcoursedevelopment.Grasshadevenbeenplantedonfour
holes.Thesitehad,however,beenabandonedformorethan20years,andwascoveredbyplantsandtreesasa
result.TheJVrepeatedlydiscussedhowtoboostbusinesssustainabilityusingsuchland.Ittackledtheissueof
howtoarrayasmanysolarpanelsaspossibletoincreasepowersales,whilelimitinglandreclamationworkasmuch
aspossibletocontainconstructioncosts.
Thecompanyconsideredthataccuratelyunderstandingtheland'sundulationswascrucialtomaketheapproach
successful.Asasolution,Todaadoptedthreedimensional(3D)laserscannerbasedmeasurements.Thismethod
enablesuserstoobtain3Dcoordinatedataofterrainandbuildingsusinglaser.Bydistributingpanelsbasedon
accurateunderstandingoftheterrain,theplantcouldpreventtheamountofpowergenerationfromdecreasing
becauseofunexpectedshadeandminimizeonsiteconstructionworkatthesametime.
Shouldaplantbedesignedwithoutaccuratecomprehensionoftheundulations,etc,onsitemeasurementand
positioningworkwouldbecomecomplicatedwheninstallingfoundations,mountingsystemsandpanels,resulting
inaheavierworkloadinmanycases.Todadevelopedatechnologytoincorporatetheterraindataaccurately
measuredbythe3Dlaserscannerwith3DCAD.Usingitsoriginalsolarpanelarrayplacementprogram,Toda
determinedthepanelplacementandproducedprojections.
Actually,Todameasuredtheterrainwiththe3Dlaserscannerafterroughlyreclaimingthelandandcuttingdown
thegrassandtrees,andcreatedhighprecision3DlanddatausingXYZ(depth,width,height)coordinateaxes.The
companyarrangedthespacebetweenthepanelrowsinconsiderationoftheeffectofshade.

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Thankstothismethod,Todasucceededineliminatingtheimpactofshadeontherowsbehindevenathourssuch
as9amand3pmonthewintersolstice,whentheshadegrowslong.Thepanelsweretiltedto8.Asthismethodis
highlyversatile,TodaadopteditatitsmegasolarpowerplantbeingdevelopedonahillsideinMiyazakiPrefecture.
Asaresult,theoverallpaneloutputdeclinedfromtheinitial14MWtoabout13.2MW(Fig.3).Thiswasbecause,
forexample,someareashadbeenfoundtoslopetoomuchtoinstallpanels.

Fig.3:Todaboosteddesignaccuracytopreciselypredictthenumberofpanelstoinstall.
Panelswereplacedsoastonotshadetherowsbehind.(source:NikkeiBP)

AccordingtoToda,the3Dlaserscannerbasedmeasurementcostsmore,yetthebenefitofboostingthedesign
accuracyandbeingabletoconfirmthenumberofpanelstoinstallissignificant.
Ifitturnedoutthatthepanelscouldnotbeinstalledasplannedwhentheywerebeingconstructedonsite,the
constructormighthavehadtoreclaimthelandagaintoexpandtheareatosetupthepanels.The3Dlaserscanner
alsofacedsomechallenges.Forexample,itcouldhavemeasuredplantsandtreesasterrain.Accordingly,Toda
implementedsomeadjustmentsandremovedweedsandotherdataasnoise.
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Ittookabouttwomonthstodeterminethepanelplacementafterthelandreclamationandmeasurement.Toda
decidedtoarray50,554unitsof261WoutputsolarpanelsmanufacturedbyMitsubishiElectricCorp.Twentyunits
of500kWoutputPVinvertersmanufacturedbyToshibaMitsubishiElectricIndustrialSystemsCorp(TMEIC)were
alsoinstalled.Thecompanyselectedthepowergenerationsystemfocusingoncollaborationwithtrusteddomestic
companies.

Foundationcombinesaconcretesquarepostandapile
Thefoundationcombinedaconcretesquarepostandapiledriven1mintotheground(Fig.4).Todacallsit
"independentfooting",becauseeachfoundationsupportsonepileofthemountingsystem.Ontheotherhand,the
typethatsupportsmultiplepileswithonefoundationiscalled"continuousfooting."

Fig.4:Afoundationthatcombinesaconcretesquarepostanda1mdeeppilewasadopted.It
achievedastrongholdingeffect,whileoffsettingthevariationinthepanelheight.(source:
NikkeiBP)

Giventheinstallationonthemountainside,thefoundationwasrequiredtofirmlyholdthemountingsystem,which
isitsoriginalpurpose,aswellastoabsorbthevariationinthepanelheight.
Todainitiallyconsideredadoptingthe"continuousfooting"methodbymoldinglongstripsofconcreteinthewest
eastdirection(Fig.5).However,iteventuallyadoptedthe"independentfooting"consideringthatcontinuous
footingwasnotgoodforabsorbingtheundulationsinthepanel'ssidewaysdirectionandthattheindependent
footingwaseasiertoconstructandthecostwaslower.Withtheaimofboostingthepulloutstress,thepileswere
dugintothegroundundertheconcretefoundations.

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Fig.5:"Independentfooting"(left)and"continuousfooting"(right)."Independentfooting"
wasadoptedbecauseitwasmorebeneficialintermsofabsorbingthepanelheightvariation,
constructionefficiencyandcost.(source:Toda)

Whensettinguppanelsinaccordancewiththeterrainonhillsides,pilefoundationsaremostlyadoptedingeneral.
Todaalsoconsideredadoptingpilefoundations,butgaveupontheideabecauseitcouldnotdrivepilesintothe
groundusingheavymachineryinmanyareasthatslopedsharply.
Eacharrayconsistedof5rowsx3panels(Fig.6)andwassupportedbysixfoundations.Whenformingthe
foundations,Todadugaholeanddroveapileintothegroundbeforepouringconcreteintoamold.

Fig.6:Eacharrayconsistsof5rowsx3panelsandissupportedbysixfoundations.(source:
NikkeiBP)

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Facilityoverview

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