FUKUSHIMA--A committee tasked with drawing up the reconstruction strategy for Fukushima Prefecture following the March earthquake and nuclear disaster will call for local communities to generate their own power rather than relying on large power stations.
FUKUSHIMA--A committee tasked with drawing up the reconstruction strategy for Fukushima Prefecture following the March earthquake and nuclear disaster will call for local communities to generate their own power rather than relying on large power stations.
The prefecture's reconstruction vision study committee will make "energy independence," the idea that communities should produce the electricity they use, central to its reconstruction plan and will call for a phasing out of nuclear power.
The committee was expected to discuss a draft vision statement on July 2 and will present its recommendations to Governor Yuhei Sato, who also supports a phasing out of nuclear power, in late July.
The draft argues that it is "necessary to energetically promote initiatives to achieve energy independence" to create a society that does not rely on nuclear energy.
The draft advocates a "local production for local consumption" model that would aim to achieve power self-sufficiency for local communities by expanding the use of renewable energy sources, including solar and wind power.
The vision will argue that an increase of small power plants would reduce the risk of blackouts when earthquakes and accidents hit.
According to Fukushima Prefecture, 121.5 billion kilowatt-hours of power was generated in fiscal 2009 at power plants in the prefecture, including those of Tokyo Electric Power Co., the Fukushima No. 1 plant's operator, and Tohoku Electric Power Co. Only 15 billion kilowatt-hours were consumed in the prefecture.