Some of rural communities have been taking an initiative in implementing a community-wide project of generating renewable energy to store some of the energy in preparation for disaster.
“Yofudo Region Residents’ Council,” consisted of 10 rural communities in Asago-shi, Hyogo prefecture, has been selling solar power since March 2015 through the fixed price purchase system, which is generated with solar panels installed on a gymnasium of a primary school closed due to a decrease in children at these communities.
The solar power generation system of the Council has been also equipped with a facility of storage battery. The facility is expected to play a role of keeping the lifeline running for a several days at the shelter of the gymnasium where the residents are to evacuate when their villages are hit by natural disasters.
22 million yen was invested into the solar panels and the energy storage facility, out of which the energy battery costed 5 million yen.
The Residents’ Council received a subsidy of 5 million yen from the Hyogo prefectural government and also got a non-interest loan of 17 million yen of the prefectural government to pay the total cost of this renewable energy project.
The solar power generation system has provided the Council with an annual income of 1.8 million yen by selling the solar power, out of which 500 thousand yen has been spent every year to activate members’ activities.
The residents in the villages grow their expectation in the solar power system saying “The system will be useful not only for stable managements of farmers, but also for the communities’ security at the natural disasters.”