Japanese utilities to start purchase of consumers' solar power

A Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) program designed to subsidize home owner's costs of installing solar power panels will kick off later this year. The plan allows home owners to sell power back to grid power operators at a fixed (high) price, thus allowing them to off-set their solar investments -- a cost-recovery process that takes about 10-15 years. The power companies will inturn get their money back by passing on the higher costs to general consumers. The power companies will payJPY48 per kw/hr for such solar-produced domestic power,about double the current rate of power.