Dual harvest (Image: Rob Gilhooly)

It seems the most unlikely place to try to put a utopian blueprint into practice. Yet a patch of land in Fukushima, the Japanese prefecture contaminated by nuclear fallout in 2011, holds the foundations of a model village of the future.

The prefecture was affected by the meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, following the earthquake and subsequent tsunami in March 2011. Now construction has started on a community-run project in the coastal city of Minamisoma to reuse farmland contaminated by fallout. About two-thirds of the city’s farmland lies within the nuclear evacuation zone.

So far the Renewable Energy Village (REV) boasts 120 photovoltaic panels, generating 30 kilowatts of power which is sold to a local utility. Plans are afoot to put wind turbines on some of the land. Recreational and educational facilities as well as an astronomical observatory will also be built if further funding can be secured.


Solar sharing

Central to the project is what the Japanese call “solar sharing” – growing crops beneath raised solar panels. One crop that has already been planted, namely rapeseed, was chosen, say project organisers, because its oil is free of contaminants even though the plants themselves take in some radioisotopes such as those of caesium. Generous feed-in tariffs set by the government support the project.

While the proceeds from the crops and energy will be ploughed back into the project, the REV’s creators hope the model will be mimicked by farmers whose livelihoods were decimated by the nuclear disaster. “People evacuated from areas closer to the plant have given up ever farming their fields again,” says project leader Ryozo Hakozaki. “There might be an amusement park feel to the project, but we’re trying to show them what the future could hold.”

Since the feed-in tariff was introduced in mid-2012, several other large-scale solar parks around Japan have been announced or are already in operation – but none uses solar sharing. Most have solar panels resting on the ground itself, which makes growing crops impossible. One will be the country’s largest solar park, also in Minamisoma.

Hakozaki says such large-scale ventures could threaten Minamisoma’s farming traditions. “If farmers decide to sell up their land, entire communities will be wiped off the map.”

The Renewable Energy Village model offers a way around this issue, says project chairman Sohei Takahashi, who plans to conduct research into crops that can tolerate radioactive contamination. “Through the project we can protect farmland and communities, and with two parallel revenues create increased prosperity compared with before the disasters,” he says.

This article appeared in print under the headline “Fukushima renews”