A floating solar demonstration project in the Tokyo Bay area has been installed and put into operation by renewable energy firm SolarDuck.

In 2022, SolarDuck was chosen to work with Kyocera Communication Systems, Everblue Technologies, and Tokyu Land Corporation to conduct a solar power infrastructure demonstration in Tokyo’s Central Breakwater district. The approximately 30-square-meter trial-size system will provide electricity to charge a bank of energy storage batteries in the Takeshiba region. Potential applications include supplying energy for an electric boat charger and powering the electric bikes of Open Street Corporation. May 12–21 is the date of a temporary demonstration of the bike-charging power application.

SolarDuck intends to generate electricity at water with great ambitions. The company’s floating panel arrays are made to function independently in wind-poor, sun-filled environments, such as Tokyo’s inner port, but they may also be integrated into offshore wind farm expansions. This could make solar energy accessible to densely populated coastal areas without requiring the loss of priceless shoreside real estate.

By 2030, SolarDuck hopes to have deployed one gigawatt of floating solar capacity, and it claims to have 3.5 gigawatts of projects in the works at various sites across the globe. A tiny test project for RWE’s Hollandse Kust West VII offshore wind farm is now underway in the Dutch section of the North Sea, where surface conditions are expected to be significantly rougher than in Tokyo’s inner harbor. This will be the biggest floating offshore solar plant ever constructed when it is finished. A 120 MW farm in the Gulf of Taranto, backed by Green Arrow Capital and New Developments, is expected to follow shortly.

Katapult Ocean, Green Tower, Energy Transition Fund Rotterdam, and Invest-NL have contributed a total of $15 million to SolarDuck’s research and development. Bureau Veritas recently awarded it the first prototype certification for an offshore floating solar system in history.