Someday all of Japan will be like this… Report: A Town Called the “Holy Land of Solar Power Generation

With the heat wave, the first “power saving request” in seven years has been issued, and Governor Yuriko Koike of Tokyo aims to make it mandatory to install solar panels on newly constructed buildings, “solar power generation” is suddenly attracting attention. Following the first part of this report, we walked around Yamanashi Prefecture, which has now become a “mecca for solar power generation.

We drove to Sudama Town, located in northwestern Yamanashi Prefecture. In this town, there is a Soto Zen temple, which is said to have been founded by Nobumitsu Takeda, a military commander from the Heian to Kamakura periods. When we passed through the temple’s main gate, the entire area was covered with solar panels, which were also operated by a private individual from Shizuoka Prefecture.

Another huge solar facility in the mountains toward Kiyosato is owned by a Tokyo-based publishing company that mainly publishes practical books. The installed solar panels were shining brightly in the strong sunlight.

Yuka Saka of the Satoyama Liaison Group, a citizens’ group in Hokuto City that raises the issue of solar power generation facilities, said, “For example, in Hakushu Town in the city of Hokuto City, there is a solar power generation facility in the town.

For example, in the city of Hakushu, six businesses got together to install solar power generation facilities, but later resold them, and before we knew it, the number of businesses had grown to 15, and is still growing. Residents are now having to face these operators.”

A short distance from Hokuto City, Kai City in Yamanashi Prefecture is also dotted with several mega solar power plants.

In the city’s Shobuzawa district, construction began in 2008 on a mega-solar power plant that boasts an area equivalent to about 3.2 Tokyo Domes, but the prefectural government pointed out that the power plant had been constructed with inadequate flood protection measures in place. Last year, however, the operator suddenly transferred the power plant to another company, and the prefectural governor criticized the operator, saying that it was irresponsible to abandon a problem involving human lives and run away. The operator was a group company of Chubu Electric Power Company based in Nagoya.

There are several solar power plants and residential areas near the power plant in the area, and nearby roads have been found to be damaged and cracked. In this area, too, a Tokyo-based Mitsubishi company was involved in the development of a mega solar power plant.

A local resident said, “They are still working on the power plant in this area, and large vehicles often drive by, so I am still worried.

Located on the east side of the Kofu Basin, Katsunuma Town is famous for Koshu grapes and Katsunuma wine. We drove to Katsunuma after hearing that there is a locally famous solar power generation facility here. As I turned off the Koshu Highway onto a narrow road, I saw an elderly woman working in a vineyard. Above her head, many solar panels were strung together from a section of the mountain face that had been cut down. The panels are clinging to a steep slope that could be described as a precipice.

If a landslide were to occur, they would probably collapse at any moment.

The bizarre landscape is famous even in the local community, says a local resident.

In Yamanashi Prefecture, an ordinance enacted just last October prohibits, in principle, the development of solar power generation facilities on dangerously sloping land that may be subject to landslides or deforestation.

According to data from the Community Development Promotion Division of the Hokuto City Construction Department (as of May of this year), forests currently account for 76.5% of the city’s total forested land, and the city plans to reduce its forested area by 2030. Since FY10, almost all of the city’s forest land development activities have been for the purpose of installing photovoltaic power generation equipment.

With the new prefectural ordinance in place, development is expected to decrease in the future, but even so, some shrewd contractors rushed to build before the prefectural ordinance came into effect, he said.

Saka says, “In Hokuto City, some power plants have already been installed in mountain forests and other dangerous locations, and I have the feeling that the city has not seriously listened to the residents’ voices up to now.”

Is solar power really eco-friendly? Both the national and local governments need to think carefully about this question.