This essay, dated March 8, 2019, criticizes the reality that the feed-in tariff system for renewable energy introduced under the former Democratic Party administration transformed solar power from an environmental policy into a mechanism for profiteering.
Using the mega-solar project in Izu Kogen and the problem of deforestation by Korean capital as concrete examples, it argues that the defects in the system design have inflicted serious damage on local communities, landscapes, the environment, and the financial burden borne by the Japanese people.

2019-03-08
No citizen could read this without feeling anger at the fact that the Democratic Party administration was truly a nightmare and at the results it has brought about, except subscribers to Asahi and viewers of NHK’s Watch 9.

I am reposting here the chapter I published on 2018-09-03 under the title, “The price is fixed for twenty years, and operators receive abundant funds over the long term.
The purchase price is currently 18 yen, yet even that remains higher than the international price.”
After reading this chapter, no citizen could fail to feel anger at the fact that the Democratic Party administration was truly a nightmare and at the results it has brought about, except subscribers to Asahi and viewers of NHK’s Watch 9.
What follows is an essay by Yoshiko Sakurai published this morning on the front page of the Sankei Shimbun under the title, “The 49 kW Trap of Solar Power.”
It is essential reading not only for the people of Japan but for people throughout the world, and readers will naturally agree in silence with my words that I hold Yoshiko Sakurai in the highest esteem….
And that there is no woman more deserving than she of the Order of the People’s Honor.
All emphasis in the text other than in the headings is mine.

“The former Democratic Party rushed headlong into solar power in response to the nuclear accident after the Great East Japan Earthquake.
We designed the system based only on a positive evaluation of renewable energy, but inwardly I feel deep regret over developments that could not have been foreseen at the time.”

These words were spoken on “Genron TV” by Shu Watanabe, a House of Representatives member from Shizuoka’s 6th district, formerly of the Democratic Party and now Vice Representative of the Democratic Party for the People.
Together with Goshi Hosono, also elected from Shizuoka Prefecture, he visited the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy on August 22 with executives of the group supporting the Izu Kogen mega-solar lawsuit, and demanded the revocation of permission for the mega-solar construction plan now proceeding locally.
Why are they, who once steered policy toward zero nuclear power and put forward policies prioritizing renewable energy, now raising objections?
“Solar power, which ought by nature to be environmentally friendly, is destroying the environment, and what was supposed to reduce CO2 is cutting down trees that absorb CO2 through large-scale logging of forests.
Far from making residents happy, it is rubbing their feelings the wrong way.
We are not opposed to solar power itself.
But we have no choice except to oppose the reality that is occurring,” said Mr. Watanabe.
In Izu Kogen, Hanwha Energy Japan, backed by Korean capital, has purchased 104 hectares of green highland, equivalent to about twenty Tokyo Domes, and a large-scale project is under way to cut down about half of its forest and construct 120,000 glaring solar panels.
The lush green scenery of Izu Kogen will be transformed.
That is why Shizuoka Prefecture, Ito City, and the residents are all opposed, yet on August 10 the operator began felling the forest.

In this summer of severe heat, the importance of stable electricity supply, the reduction of CO2, and the use of renewable energy is surely a concern shared by almost everyone.
Naoto Kan, who legislated the feed-in tariff system for renewable energy that began in 2012, must also have thought so.
Yet the protest movements now taking place not only in Izu Kogen but throughout Japan show that solar power has diverged greatly from initial expectations and has begun to run wild.
This runaway is not because solar power itself is bad.
It is because the system design of Mr. Kan and the others was riddled with defects and debased solar power into a means of easy profiteering.
There is greedy pursuit of profit there, but no ingenuity whatsoever aimed at making solar power truly beneficial, such as obliging operators to undertake research and development on batteries that can store solar energy.
Under the FIT system, electric power companies were initially obliged to purchase the full amount of renewable energy at the high price of 42 yen per kilowatt-hour, nearly double the international price.
The price is fixed for twenty years, and operators receive abundant funds over the long term.
The purchase price is currently 18 yen, yet even that remains higher than the international price.
Among the mechanisms that bring enormous profits to operators, the particularly bad system is the “49 kW” trap.
To be continued.