Ota City: Solar Capital Of The World?
by greenz.jp, Tokyo, Japan 
on 12.20.08
www.ntdtv.com reports from Ota City, some 80 kilometers north of Tokyo, one of Japan's sunniest spots. Since 1998, the city has invested in solar power, and Mika Hiroshima says her electrical appliances are mostly powered by solar energy: when they have some unused electricity left, they can sell it back to a local power company.
Ota City in Gunma prefecture has continued to push forward because it had a vision. It has not always been easy. Now, the Japanese government is planning to revive solar panel subsidies in 2009 and the new subsidies are expected to cover 10 percent of installation costs. As in other Asian countries (the Korean village Donggwang gets 100% of its power from the sun), investments in PV are expected to continue in Japan: local companies like Home Make are helping Japanese families make the right decisions, while Sharp, the world's No.2 maker of solar cells are trying to expand by tying up with Italy's Enel. Not easy when the economic outlook is cloudy and the future of solar could be beyond reach for most people.
Japan has earmarked 9 billion yen ($92 million) for solar panels for households in this year to March 2009. Its Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is seeking 24 billion yen ($246 million) for subsidies in the year starting April 2009, and estimates that about 100,000 homes would install solar panels next year, with the subsidy.
Forbes/Reuters: 'Solar City' proves allure of sun's energy in Japan
Reuters/IHT: Sharp plans joint solar venture with Enel
Written by Martin Frid at greenz.jp
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Based on my 100kwh/month usage, a $20k system, and Japan's kwh rate of about 25cents (at current exchange rates) it would take me over 65 years to break even. That could drastically change if I were able to sell excess capacity to the grid, but I have no way to gauge what that would be. Even so...
Solar is not even CLOSE to being economically viable.
I live in one 12 X 15 foot room, that keeps the heating bills low. Even if I had a bigger place I would still just live in one room in the winter, not much of the things we own need to be heated.
And I'm thinking of putting a fridge outside in the winter, but that may require a light bulb to keep it from freezing inside at times. Still cheaper than running a fridge inside a warm place.
That's really impressive.
Germany has a very similar system with government subsidies for city taxes. It's true, though, it's more of a long run thing. Houses that have these installed have to be inspected so they can be sure the house doesn't collapse or fall apart and disrupt the investment.
It is unclear from this story how a "100% solar village" gets its power during night. I assume that these towns are generating excess electricity durng the day and are drawing from the grid at night. If so, this is laudable but not CO2 free and "100%" solar is disengenous.
Bill
Thanks for the comments. Just to clarify, Ota City does not claim to be 100% solar. That is the claim made by the Korean town (with 40 houses) on Jeju Island. There is also a wind farm, so night time electricity would not be a problem.
- Martin
Billy: First off, you should probably not keep your refrigerator outside. If it is too cold outside, it won't cycle and the inside of the unit will actually get too warm and your food will spoil. Refrigerators also put out some heat during operation, which should offset any cold air that comes out when you open its door.
I live in an apartment in Japan, and each of my bedrooms is about 2.7m X 3.6m (8ft X 12ft), so 108 square feet. Having my laptop running, with both my wife and I both in the room, it stays comfortable enough for me. Without the sun shining in it is usually around 55F, but with the sun shining in the days can get up to around 70F. The Mrs. doesn't quite like the colder days.
On the actual subject of this post, I am only seriously considering getting a solar water heater. There have been some good do-it-yourself articles on treehugger as well, which I might take a crack at.