Japan is a big economy with no natural energy resources. The country spends billions importing oil. That’s why “it’s natural to long for alternative power sources,” says Tomita. In 1993 Japan embarked on an ambitious program to make so-called new energy sources–including solar power–approximately 3 percent of Japan’s energy mix. That translates into 800,000 kilowatt-hours a year from solar power by 2010–23 times the amount produced in 1999. The Japanese government has spent 123 billion yen ($1.1 billion) between 1997 and 2004 on subsidies for solar panels on top of residential houses. About 50,000 Japanese homes installed solar panels in 2003, up 30 percent from the previous year.
The government largesse has made Japan’s solar industry the world’s most vibrant; from 1997 to 2003 it grew 90 percent. The country’s famed electronics manufacturers compete fiercely to build the most advanced and efficient solar panels. Sharp captured 27 percent of the world market for solar panels in 2003, and other Japanese giants like Kyocera, Mitsubishi Electric and Sanyo Electric are also fighting for a piece of the pie. Japan now produces half the world’s solar-power output.
The field is one of the few in which Japan remains the world’s manufacturing leader by far. As the technology advances, prices for photovoltaic panels are dropping, which may help solar power take off even in countries that don’t provide incentives as Japan does. “We have clear objectives to improve the systems and to cut the price,” says Tomita. That should help improve the view from his window.
