What is the general attitude of Japanese people towards solar panel farms?

30 comments

1. You mean like the solar panel farms literally everywhere outside the cities? Good luck unless you’re talking about owning the land and selling the electricity too, plenty of companies who’ll do this for you either as a lease or direct equipment sales.

2. Plenty of gone under golf courses, farms and just general land are now full on solar farms.

   Zoom in and out in Google maps in somewhere like Kagoshima and you’ll see clearly.

   https://maps.app.goo.gl/Lt7XP3PLdLfFCa2a8

3. I think that these sentiments are not uncommon, but they are not necessarily representative of the majority opinion. There are a number of factors that could be contributing to these negative attitudes, including concerns about the aesthetics of solar farms, fears about the potential for environmental damage, and worries about the economic impact of solar power. However, it is also important to remember that there are many people in Japan who are supportive of solar power, and who believe that it is a vital part of the country’s efforts to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels and combat climate change.

4. > I’m considering making a business setting up photovoltaic (solar panel) farms in Japan.

   This is an incredibly crowded market sector in Japan these days with plenty of established companies both owning and setting up farms. If you do go ahead with this, I really hope you enjoy red tape.

5. They’re everywhere down in Kyushu. Question is what rates you’re aiming for.

6. Lots of them along the Odakyu line out toward Odawara. Not sure there is a big market, but hey, I wish you all the best.

7. We’ve got solar farms in the farm sense here in Hokkaido — sometimes the solar farms have goats and sheep taking care of the grounds maintenance. I haven’t heard anything bad about them per se. Although my husband doesn’t think they are a great investment (at my urging, he has a few panels on a barn, and sells the electricity). Still, I keep seeing new ones going up. Better hurry!

8. In the UK it’s generally the old folk that don’t like them – and Japan is full of old folk. I always ask if they’d prefer a Chernobyl or Fukushima type scenario over a few panels in a field or if burning gas/coal/oil until it runs out is better than windmills or geothermal. Japan is a concrete mess anyway – they ought to be going for 100% renewable given the sunshine, wind, sea and geothermal activity.

9. I’m working in that field and there are some anti solar sentiment but not mainstream, generally isolated local incidents.

   As for setting a business in that field, like others mentioned, it is crowded but not impossible but you will need lots of connection and deal with “red tape” as an everyday thing ( landowners, local cities, government entities etc…).
   I wouldn’t recommend you if you start from zero with no experience or connections to the field.

10. Without government subsidies it’s a money pit. You’re competing against nuclear power.

11. There are already groups that sell investing in solar farms. They offer you different potential plots of land and show you different options and costs, and if you want to invest they will do everything for you. I know someone who invests in these and like most investments in Japan it seems to be medium-higher risk, very low return, but the bank, investment group, installers, maintenance company etc. all get their fees and are happy.

    I think you would be competing against already established groups.

12. On Okinawa, solar panel farms completely took over the gymkhana/autocross/drift “tracks” that were used for motorsports for a LONG time… about 10-15 years ago. There are new spots for racing now but there was nothing for a couple of years because the “tracks” took the easy money. Like others have said, good luck. You’re a few years late to that game.

13. a few years back an acquaintance was in that business, they tried and failed to enter that market here, then finally pulled out. Said there was a lot of domestic competition and issues with the gov’t, so, if it were me I would only start it if I had a sure differentiator that other similar businesses could not get.

14. The only thing that matters are the people surrounding the proposed construction site. Our prefecture requires a sign off from the locals before you can build. Oh and my prefecture now requires new sites to fit in with the local environmnet i.e. not be an eyesore.

15. I keep wishing they would put them over parking lots. The cars would have shade, and the panels would do what they do! Of course, the incidence of cars hitting the poles would probably be a tremendous problem.

16. A lot of the population has never seen one.

17. All think is same.

18. Rooftop solar panels (for homes) are more popular.

19. Don’t think there is much sentiment against them other than from the usual reactionary types.

    But that is not a business I would want to get in here, now.

20. Some people feel they have a negative impact on smaller towns, especially those experiencing population decline. The village where I live has specific rules against allowing those types of installations. There are a few of them that existed before the law was changed, but they won’t allow anything except installations on your personal house or business now.

    The aesthetics are debatable, but what I think it really comes down to is it breaks down the traditional and local community system. An actual neighbor would contribute to the community fees, do the monthly neighborhood clean up–our neighborhood makes the shimenawa for the village festivals etc. There is an expectation of community responsibility. Then there are local taxes, supporting local business and all of that.

    I don’t personally mind the ones that are there, but I guess I would rather not be surrounded by a solar farm that used to be rice fields.

21. They are all over the place in Hokkaido. I have no idea if it’s lucrative but it’s certainly a common sight. I’ve never heard anyone express a negative opinion toward them.

    The comment, “Don’t defile Japan” makes absolutely no sense at all and was made by someone with zero knowledge, I would guess. Obviously Japan isn’t well-suited for nuclear power. Ask anyone who lives in and within the vicinity of Fukushima Prefecture about that.

22. Unless you have some magic angle or tech that doesn’t otherwise exist, you’re joining an incredibly crowded market where the gov’t subsidies have already been dramatically cut.

    As far as general sentiment I think most people are indifferent. Some people are more impacted by it and are likely vocal in their opposition.

23. It’s come to a point where the news shows discuss the problems caused by the massive increase in solar farms over the past decade. You’re likely going to be competing against existing companies and their established relationships with local government offices. Good luck though!

24. Idk but to what I can see, in inaka, there’s a lot of solar panel farms.

25. You’d be better off buying land and then leasing it to companies that will build their own solar farms

26. There are tons of fields of solar panels all over the rural area I live in here, at least 5 that I know of in my small town alone

27. A colleague of mine complained about people cutting down mountain forest and installing solar panels on the slopes. I think he thought that people who did this were trying to make a quick buck from subsidies while ignoring future problems with soil erosion and such.

28. As many people have said, its a crowded market.

    If you have a hope of making an impact, it might be in finding a way to build farms somewhere *other than* the countryside.

    There’s a divide between the people who have the land and the money to build them and the people who don’t: namely that those who stand to profit do so unashamedly and those who do not resent them and the rapid pace at which rice fields, pastures, and light forests are becoming vast slates of black metal and glass.

    What the people need is an option that lets them in on the savings or profits and also doesn’t significantly alter the vistas.

    There are still a lot of urban structures with unutilized roofs. In particular, I wish there were a market for individual apartment owners or renters to install panels on balconies or in windows, and store power in batteries that can be switched to instead of the utility company’s lines.

29. Hi! I’m actually working for one of the T1 manufacturers for the sales office in Tokyo.

    There’s some pushback from certain groups and demographics (mostly some locals living near projects and those who don’t like to see land cleared and repurposed), but on the whole it’s a very crowded and active sector, though it’s not necessarily growing fast anymore since we’re running out of space people are willing to convert to solar farms, and we’re in a post-FIT market environment right now. Larger scale projects probably won’t really be a thing for a while.

    Right now there’s a fast growing interest in the ESS parts of everything, which is also coupled with the fact that 2025 marks the start of the Tokyo ordinance that will obligate a lot of new constructions to have solar systems installed.

    As for the anti-solar, anti-China sentiments, there’s really no other option from where to source panels from, and those actually in the business in any significant volume don’t care. There’s basically no domestic manufacturing capacity in Japan any more in terms of solar modules themselves – it’s basically all OEMs to Chinese manufacturers (many not even the T1 manufacturers).

30. Not to put you off but I work in the area (not in Japan, slightly less developed markets) and it is very difficult, I think you’re massively underestimating the work required – power markets are very complex and very highly regulated.

    You are competing against not only utilities but developers, independent power producers etc. Bear in mind that most of these people are incredibly knowledgeable in electrical engineering, finance, power systems etc. it is a very niche field and you need to be exceptionally knowledgeable to be able to compete.

    That’s not to say the market is saturated, it isn’t. I work on the software side in optimizing and trading existing built renewable assets and in demand response – there is absolutely room to make money here because developers or utilities tend to just build assets and don’t bother to optimize them unless they’re particularly large. And with demand response there is massive room to grow, especially on the residential side.