In Japan, new policy spurs solar power boom

The Washington Post

Across Japan, technology firms and private investors are racing to install devices that until recently they had little interest in: solar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up by the dozen, and companies are mounting panels atop warehouse and factory rooftops as part of a rapid buildup that one developer likened to an “explosion.”

The boom is striking in part because of how simply it was sparked — by a little-noted government policy, implemented nearly a year ago, that suddenly guaranteed generous payments to anybody selling renewable energy, including solar power.