Panasonic Solar Ark

If you take the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto or vise versa, you may see a strange building called the "Solar Ark."

The Solar Ark. In August, Panasonic took ownership of Sanyo and the red "Sanyo" sign on the ark was replaced with a sign reading "Panasonic."

A total of 5,046 solar panels comprise this massive building. The ark was constructed with the goal of promoting clean and renewable solar energy.

Separate from the ark is a museum featuring information on solar power.

The specifications of the Solar Ark

The solar panels in the Solar ark were actually those that had been recalled from the Japanese market due to insufficient output. This was a big scandal at the time, but Sanyo was able to save face and money by finding another use for the recalled panels. Obviously this must be nothing compared to what TEPCO is facing now, regarding the earthquake, but it will be interesting to see where the future of Japanese power lies. Will TEPCO regain face out of necessity for the power it produces?