{"id":381,"date":"2012-10-25T10:54:00","date_gmt":"2012-10-25T14:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2012\/10\/softbanks-son-to-install-solar-in-japan-watch-out-georgia-power.html"},"modified":"2012-10-25T10:54:00","modified_gmt":"2012-10-25T14:54:00","slug":"softbanks-son-to-install-solar-in-japan-watch-out-georgia-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2012\/10\/softbanks-son-to-install-solar-in-japan-watch-out-georgia-power.html","title":{"rendered":"Softbank’s Son to install solar in Japan: watch out, Georgia Power!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nThe same Masayoshi Son who shook up Japan’s Internet market\n\nand is about to do the same in the U.S.<\/a>\nis moving to modify Japan’s power market from nuclear to solar.\nWatch out, Georgia Power and Southern Company!\nIf you don’t get a move on, Son-san will eat your lunch, too.\n<\/p>\n

\nMariko Yasu wrote for Bloomberg Businessweek 23 June 2011,\n\nSoftbank’s CEO Wants a Solar-Powered Japan<\/a>,\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n\n\"Masayoshi<\/a>\nBillionaire Masayoshi Son made a fortune taking on Japan’s phone\nmonopoly. Now he aims to shake up its power utilities after the\nworst nuclear crisis in 25 years. The 53-year-old chief executive\nofficer of Softbank says he will build solar farms to generate\nelectricity, with support from at least 33 of Japan’s 47\nprefectures. He’s asking for access to transmission networks owned\nby the 10 regional utilities and an agreement that they buy his\nelectricity. No other company has secured unlimited access to the\nthose transmission networks. The utilities would not comment.\nJapan’s main business organization, the Keidanren, called for\n“careful analysis” before any drastic change in the power system\ntook place.\n<\/p>\n

\nIf Japan ever felt ready to back Son’s ambitious plan, this is the\nmoment. Radiation has spread across at least 600 square kilometers\n(230 square miles) in the northeast since the Mar. 11 earthquake and\ntsunami led to meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant.\nOutgoing Prime Minister Naoto Kan said in May he will rethink a plan\nto increase atomic power to 50 percent of the nation’s energy output\nfrom 30 percent. Renewable energy already accounts for 10 percent,\naccording to Japan’s Agency for Natural Resources and Energy. Son\nwants to see that tripled by 2020. “The question is how this nation\nis going to survive after cutting nuclear power,” he said at a\ngovernment panel meeting on June 12.\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n\nComplacent Georgia Power and SO,<\/a> you maybe don’t think he can do it?\nNTT probably thought that, too:\n<\/p>\n\n\n

\n

\nWhen Son introduced Softbank’s broadband service in 2001, he offered\nrates that undercut NTT’s by as much as half.\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n\n\"Solar<\/a>\nAnd if not Son, somebody else will outcompete SO’s subsidized\n\nthree-legged nuclear regulatory-caputure stool.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\nBesides, it will be easier in Georgia than in Japan\nor tiny Denmark:<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\nFor Son to succeed, regulators have to agree to make 540,000\nhectares (1.3 million acres) of unused farmland available for\nsolar-power stations. If Son can devote 20 percent of the unused\nfarmland to solar plants, he says, he can generate the same amount\nof electricity as Tokyo Electric Power, the giant utility that\naccounts for a third of Japan’s electricity sales.\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n\n\"Wiregrass<\/a>\nIn Georgia, there’s plenty of land available,\nsuch as next to Plant Branch, on rooftops,\n\nin parking lots such as at VSU,<\/a>\nnext to\n\nthe existing solar array at the Mud Creek wastewater plant in Valdosta,<\/a>\nat the airport, etc.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe article sums it up:\n<\/p>\n

\nThe bottom line:<\/strong> Masayoshi Son wants to ramp up solar energy\ncapacity in Japan and take on the established utilities at the same\ntime.\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nHm, who does that remind me of?\n\n<\/a>\nMaybe\n\nGeorgia Solar Utilities<\/a> (GaSU),\nwhich\n\nwants to build an 80 MW solar plant<\/a>\non\n\nland next to Georgia Power’s coal Plant Branch<\/a>\nand become a GA PSC-certified electric utility.\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd remember, this game is not just for billionaires.\nIn Savannah,\nDr. Sidney Smith heads Lower Rates for Customers LLC\n\nthat’s installing solar panels in parking lots and selling power to\nbusinesses<\/a>,\ndaring Georgia Power to sue him for violating the\n\n1973 Territorial Electric Service Act<\/a>.\nThat’s the act that prevents you from selling power from solar panels\non your roof on an open market,\nand makes it hard for you to get financing to put up those panels in the\nfirst place.\nThat Act, \npropped up by Georgia Power<\/a>,\nis what’s dragging Georgia behind New Jersey and Denmark and Germany.\nAnd Japan.\n<\/p>\n

\n\n\"GA<\/a>\nIf you want to get on with solar and stop wasting resources\non that nuclear boondoggle on the Savannah River,\nright now you can\n\nvote for Georgia Public Service Commissioners and legislators who will\nrepresent you,<\/a>\ninstead of kow-towing to the utilities.\n<\/p>\n

\nIn addition to voting for people who will represent you,\nif you’re a Georgia Power customer,\nyou can\n\n\"WACE<\/a>\n\npay your nuke-boondoggle CWIP payment in a separate check<\/a>,\nwith a comment saying you’d rather have renewable energy.\nEven if you’re not, you can write to Georgia Power, or Southern Company,\nor the GA PSC.\nHere are\n\nsome contacts.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n-jsq\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The same Masayoshi Son who shook up Japan’s Internet market and is about to do the same in the U.S. is moving to modify Japan’s power market from nuclear to solar. Watch out, Georgia Power and Southern Company! If you don’t get a move on, Son-san will eat your lunch, too. Mariko Yasu wrote for […]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[97,142,14,49,17,8,18,2,19,132,20,312,104,21,22,23,24,134,1521],"tags":[8736,1522,8746,8704,8721,8707,8701,8708,8699,8709,8741,8702,8710,8760,12,7,879,8737,8711,8712,8713,1523,878,8714,108,971,6,8743,8831],"class_list":["post-381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-cwip","category-economy","category-elections","category-ga-psc","category-georgia","category-georgia-power","category-government","category-history","category-internet-access-speed","category-law","category-lower-rates-for-customers-llc","category-nuclear","category-planning","category-politics","category-renewable-energy","category-solar","category-vsu","category-wiregrass-solar","tag-activism","tag-competition","tag-cwip","tag-economy","tag-elections","tag-ga-psc","tag-georgia","tag-georgia-power","tag-government","tag-history","tag-internet-access-speed","tag-lake","tag-law","tag-lower-rates-for-customers-llc","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-masayoshi-son","tag-nuclear","tag-planning","tag-politics","tag-renewable-energy","tag-so","tag-softbank","tag-solar","tag-southern-company","tag-territorial-electric-service-act","tag-valdosta","tag-vsu","tag-wiregrass-solar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-69","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}