Photovoltaic news and pv jobs

Latest Japanese Coca Cola solar fund schools selected

The latest 24 schools to benefit from solar facilities provided by Coca Cola's Yen 2.5 billion (US$30.4 million) Japan Reconstruction Fund have been selected.

50 schools near the site of the Fukushima nuclear reactor meltdown will eventually be fitted with solar installations by Coca Cola's reconstruction fund.

Wikipedia/Digital Globe

With 11 schools receiving up to Yen 30 million each to install up to 20 kWh of solar panels and batteries with a total capacity of up to 16 kW in the first round of funding, a total of 35 schools have so far benefited from the scheme with a final round of awards due by March 31, 2014.

Of the 35 schools to secure funding so far, four are in the Fukushima prefecture whose name is synonymous with the nuclear reactor meltdown, which followed the 16-meter-high tsunami that hit on March 11, 2011. A further 12 public elementary and junior schools are benefiting from the fund in Iwate prefecture, and another 11 in nearby Miyagi, both of which were also devastated by the disaster.

Although the schools in question survived the earthquake-prompted tidal wave largely intact, they were deprived of electricity whilst being used as emergency evacuation centers prompting soft drink giant Coca Cola to pledge its reconstruction fund to ensuring that power would be maintained in the event of future natural disasters.