TOKYO, Nov. 7 -- A Japanese firm on Friday started construction of a solar power plant in western Japan's Okayama prefecture, which will be one of the country's biggest, the Kyodo news agency reported Friday.

The 230-megawatt facility's operator, Setouchi Future Creations LLC, a company founded by firms including GE Energy Financial Services and Toyo Engineering Corp., plans to sell the electricity generated by the plant to Japanese utility Chugoku Electric Power Co.

A total of 920,000 solar panels will be installed at the 265- hectare "megasolar" plant in Setouchi to be built at a cost of some 110 billion yen (about 956.5 million U.S. dollars).

The plant is scheduled to begin operation in the first half of 2019.