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Originally Posted by jeff88
Reminds me of what the UAE did with their "islands".
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Since the global economic collapse and ensuing bailout, the islands aren't doing so well. Investors went belly up or bailed out on their commitments and the resulting money shortage has killed progress. The Arabs aren't giving up on the project, partly in fact because they know they are running short on oil reserves to draw from. In the not-so-distant future, they will need another long-term income stream. Perfect example of money driven forward thinking. Hopefully their eggs are in the right basket.
The Japanese government tried the nuclear route to satisfy demand for electricity, and learned (the hard way) the considerable downside of that resource. The disaster made them see that nuclear power did not agree with their positions of conservation and eco-friendliness. Solar power fit right into their long-term plans and also highlighted their ability to source the world with high-tech production systems.
What is happening in Japan as I am writing this post can only be described as a "solar gold rush". Japan has been welcoming ANYONE who has the capability to come and build whatever they can muster to feed the serious power shortage they are experiencing. The ministry of trade has set a goal of over 20 gigawatts of electric power production, and as of now only 4 gigawatts worth of production capacity has been completed. Lots of projects approved in 2011 are failing, due to the contractors' lack of ability to deliver, so the field is still wide open.
The Japanese government is trying to be proactive in this process. They are encouraging producers to come up with other renewable energy sources besides solar. They are knocking the "jack-legs" out of projects they cannot complete to make room for firms that can and have. Meanwhile, the nation is importing LNG and coal to feed the power industry, paying a pretty penny for the inconvenience.
I really hope that Japan can pull this one off. It would be a tremendous model for the rest of the world.