Mountainous, densely populated Japan has little land available for large solar farms, so developers are erecting arrays on many of the now disused golf courses that proliferated during the country’s 1980s economic boom.
A Bloomberg analysis found that 9 percent of Japan’s utility-scale solar capacity is installed on former golf courses. The courses, which were once a symbol of Japan’s economic ascendance, have declined in popularity, leading many to close down.
After the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, public outcry spurred Japan to close down dozens of nuclear reactors. To compensate for the loss of these power plants, which once supplied a third of Japan’s electricity, the government began offering generous incentives to solar developers, leading to a wave of new large installations.
Some developers have sought to build solar projects on abandoned farms, including in Fukushima, which has seen massive arrays installed on farmland that was rendered unusable by radioactive contamination from the damaged nuclear plant. But in many cases, large solar farms have been erected in the foothills outside Japanese cities. Such projects have displaced forests and upped the risk of landslides, fueling public backlash.
Japan’s old golf courses provide a better option, not only because they skirt opposition, but because the land is generally cheap and flat, and these sites are already connected to the power grid. At least 10 percent of utility-scale capacity that has been announced or is currently under construction is on golf courses, Bloomberg found.
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