The Sakai City Waterfront Mega Solar Power Generation Plan - to give it its full name - will have a 28,000 kW combined maximum capacity and will help to reduce CO2 emissions by a whopping 10,000 tons annually.

The city will work in conjunction with Sharp Japan and Kansai Electric Power, with Sharp planning on using cutting-edge thin-film silicon solar modules.

The first part of the project will be installed at an industrial waste landfill. The second part will be installed on Sharp’s and other participating companies’ buildings.

Japan is probably only 2nd behind Germany when it comes to solar power supply. With initiatives such as these, it will consolidate its position as a world leader as it tries to hold off the challenge of a resurgent US and attempts to overhaul Germany's continuing dominance.

At the same time as this announcement, the US has seemingly shot itself in the foot by freezing applications for new solar projects on public land in six Western states.

Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah - some of the sunniest in the US - have been told to stop all projects until The Bureau of Land Management has looked into the environmental, social and economic impacts of solar energy development.

The overall shape of the USA's solar power supply is generally good. But this seems a backward step as the Japanese stride forward.

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