Softbank's president Son, 36 Japanese prefectures start green energy project

Jul 15, 2011 - Masayoshi Son, president of Japanese mobile operator Softbank Corp (TYO:9984), and 36 of Japan's 47 prefectures established a council to promote the use of renewables in the country and trim its reliance upon nuclear energy.

Fukushima prefecture, the one most affected by the March 11 earthquake and the subsequent nuclear crisis, is among the prefectures that support the initiative, Japanese news agency Kyodo reported. Aichi, Shizuoka, Mie and Nagano are also part of the alliance. The four provinces lost power supply from the Hamaoka nuclear power plant after the government decided in May to close it for safety reasons.

In May Son started a campaign in Japan for the increased use of renewable energy. He worked out a proposal to build 10 large-scale solar power plants across the country in cooperation with local governments. Son will cover most of the construction costs for the project, which is worth JPY 80 billion (USD 1bn/EUR 714m).

In Son's view, Japan can reach 20% share of renewables in the national power mix by 2020. He also seeks to boost the use of other renewables such as wind and geothermal power.

(JPY 10 = USD 0.126/EUR 0.089)

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