Japan's Kyocera Solar today announced that it will supply and install solar systems in Tunisia in a project funded by Japanese taxpayers.

The arrangement is a "yen loan," a form of official development assistance (ODA) provided by the Japanese government.

It is a mechanism for lending development funds to developing countries at low interest on a long-term basis. Yen loans are designed to help developing countries stand on their own economically as they strive to become self-reliant.

This is to be the first case in which yen loans will be applied to the delivery and installation of photovoltaic power systems.

Starting in April 2008, Kyocera is to begin installing solar power generating systems in 500 households in villages that do not currently have electricity in the three Tunisian governorates of Kef, Siliana and Beja.

The systems are intended to charge storage batteries using power generated during daylight hours and make the power available for residential lighting and other needs at night.

For years, Kyocera has been supplying solar power generating systems to villages without electricity in Asia and Africa.

It has been developing solar products since 1975, and in 1982 became the first company to successfully mass-produce multicrystalline silicon solar cells.

The company has since been eclipsed by Japan's Sharp Solar, now the world's leading manufacturer of solar modules by volume.