The Promise of Sunshine - Light and Shadow of 150kW Solar Power Plant and Mega Solar in Iwaki, Fukushima - May 2004

The Promise of Sunshine - Light and Shadow of 150kW Solar Power Plant and Mega Solar in Iwaki, Fukushima - May 2004

In 2004, the silver panels that quietly lined the hills of Iwaki were a small dawn in the history of renewable energy in Japan. At the time, solar power was still expensive, the system was not yet in place, and it was even considered "idealistic. However, before the Kyoto Protocol came into effect, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions became a national responsibility, and local governments began to take action. The 150 kW power plant in Iwaki City is a symbolic step in this direction. Blessed with abundant sunshine, Fukushima Prefecture sought "self-sustaining local energy" through power generation demonstrations at public facilities and industrial parks.

Twenty years have passed since then. In 2020, Pacific Energy Iwaki Mega Solar (42.3 MW) will be operational, and NPOs will start generating electricity for citizens. The supply rate of renewable energy in Fukushima Prefecture as a whole reached approximately 60% in FY2024, exceeding the demand for electricity, and the prefecture is now moving from quantity to quality, aiming to achieve 100% renewable energy by FY2040.

However, this "light" is also casting a new shadow. The construction of mega-solar power plants requires large tracts of land, and landslides and flood damage due to deforestation have been reported in many areas. In Iwaki City, a landslide near the construction site was confirmed in the torrential rains of 2022. Furthermore, there are growing concerns that the change in the landscape, with black panels covering the mountain surface, will damage the value of the tourist destination. To address these issues, the city has made landscape preservation and community consensus mandatory in its "Renewable Energy Facility Installation Ordinance," which will take effect in October 2025.

Furthermore, solar panels have a lifespan of 20 to 30 years; mass disposal of solar panels will begin in the late 2030s, and the disposal of panels containing lead and cadmium will become a new issue. The national and local governments are hurrying to establish recycling systems, but they are still in the middle of the process. In addition, the power grid will be strained by the increase in power generation and "output control" will become a real issue, and there is criticism that development led by foreign funds will not return much profit to the local community.

In other words, Iwaki solar is illuminating both "successes" and "challenges. Along with technological advances, how to reconstruct the relationship between nature and the local community - what is being questioned now is a sustainable future itself. The 150 kW light of the past is now the cornerstone of an energy culture that thinks together with the community.