2003 JAPAN LAW: WIND & ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES
Keywords: Energy Law, Environment, Substitute Energy, Wind Energy
Copyright 2004. All rights reserved Attorney Roderick H. Seeman
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From April, 2003 the Law Concerning the Promotion of the Use of New Energies will take effect. The new law will require that by 2010, all power producers, including the electric and gas utilities and the new independent producers of recent years, to produce 1.3% of total energy production in Japan, or 2.2 billion kilowatt hours, from alternative energy sources, including wind power. The target for wind power is reportedly 3 million kilowatt hours by 2010. Japan’s present wind-power generating capacity is less than 10% of that of the USA. Although in theory one of the main purposes of the uses of alternative energy sources is to improve the environment, as part of the effort to promote the utilization of wind powers, the government has decided to permit the construction of these windmills in national parks, forests and harbors. Winds are usually stronger in the harbors and in the mountains as the distinct changes in the environment create wind. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will permit the construction of the windmills within the nation’s 1088 ports. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries will sell or lease land within national forests to the power utilities for the same purpose.