Toshiba will conduct a solar- power feasibility study with Taisei and Sojitz as part of Japan’s efforts to promote renewable energy in areas hit by the March 11 record earthquake and tsunami.
The three Japanese companies won an order from the Environment Ministry to conduct research if Minamisoma city in Fukushima is suitable for 20 megawatts of solar-power generation, Tokyo-based Toshiba said in a statement today. Minamisoma is 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the Fukushima Dai- Ichi nuclear plant devastated in the March disaster.
The ministry announced eight feasibility study projects including Toshiba’s program. Of them, three were for solar power and one geothermal and the rest for wind.
“As part of reconstruction efforts for the disaster-hit areas, it is important to introduce renewable energy there in a speedy manner,” the ministry said in a separate statement.
The total budget for the studies is 400 million yen ($5 million), according to Yasuhiro Muroishi, an official of the ministry’s climate change policy unit, said by phone.
Toshiba and the two other companies will put together the result of the study by March 30, according to the company statement.
