Mar. 13, 2008 – Ibiden has begun operating a large-scale solar power system to power research facilities at its Ogaki Central Plant in Gifu Prefecture, home to its chip packaging manufacturing activities, according to the Nikkei Business Daily.
The ¥510M (US ~$5.0M) system incorporates 3234 solar panels to collectively generate 600kw of power and 647,000kwh of annual electricity (though just under 1% of total power consumed at the plant), but will reduce annual electricity costs by ~¥8M ($78K) and CO2 emissions by around 203 tons, the paper notes.
Ibiden already has a solar power system running on the roof of its HQ in the same city.