Kyocera Donates Solar Panels to Primary Schools in Tanzania

KYOTO, Japan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kyocera Corporation (NYSE:KYO)(TOKYO:6971)(ISIN:JP3249600002)(President: Makoto Kawamura) has decided to donate solar power generating systems to primary schools in the United Republic of Tanzania. Commemorating the contribution officially, Kazuo Inamori, the Kyocera Chairman Emeritus, today presented a donation certificate to His Excellency Mr. Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, the President of the United Republic of Tanzania and Chairman of the African Union, who is currently in Japan attending the outreach sessions for the 2008 G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit.

During the 4th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) in Yokohama, the Japanese Government pledged an aggressive assistance program for Africa by yen loans, totaling the equivalent of four billion U.S. dollars. A large number of supports from the private sectors are required, as the infrastructures for transportation aiming for the economic development as well as those of education for development of human resources are considered to be urgent tasks to achieve the goal.

In Tanzania, the top priorities include improving its educational infrastructures to develop the human resources for the future. To partly solve this challenge, Kyocera decided to donate and install its solar power generating systems to Tanzanian primary schools where the education conditions are not yet sufficient. The company hopes to support to improve the education standard to some extent by lighting up the classrooms and installing the electrification equipment.

-- 20 Sets of Donation for the Following Five Years

The donation package contains 600-watt solar power generating systems including storage batteries that Kyocera will install in schools in Tanzania. Each system will come with basic equipment, such as a TV set and lights. Kyocera will donate and install the systems in four schools each year over the coming five years, totaling 20 schools starting from 2008.

-- Supporting Rural Electrification

Kyocera entered the solar energy business in 1975 when then-President Kazuo Inamori first recognized the long-term potential for solar technology to contribute to global energy demand. The company’s solar business has continued for 33 years based on the principle of “Contributing to society through pollution-free energy around the world”.

Kyocera has also continued to light up many people’s lives in developing areas without electricity by solar power generation, believing that it could contribute to people and society.

Kyocera’s efforts in rural electrification began with the village of Kankoi in Pakistan in 1983, and Gansu Province of China in 1985, along with a series of projects involving agricultural irrigation, vaccine refrigeration, and power for medical facilities. The company is scheduled to supply solar power generating systems to 500 households in Tunisia under a Japanese Government yen-loan project in October 2008. This will be the first use of yen loans for the delivery and installation of solar power systems.