# Community-Based Joint Citizen Ohisama Power Station ~NPO Minamishinshu Ohisama-Shinpo~

Column

Nonprofit organization (NPO) Minamishinshu Ohisama-Shinpo launched the “joint citizen power station ‘ohisama (meaning the shining sun) power station’ project” in 2004 to raise funds from donations to install photovoltaic power generation facilities at kindergartens and nurseries in the community under the idea of “building a sound material-cycle society through local production and local consumption of energy.”

Subsequently, in the same year, “Ohisama-Shinpo Energy,” a private limited company (later a joint stock company), was established as a private-sector company to undertake the project in Iida City, Nagano Prefecture, adopted as “A Community Model Project of a Virtuous Circle for Environment and Economy” of the Ministry of the Environment. The project, as a participatory project of citizens, is designed to solicit capital contributions from citizens (under an anonymous association contract) and use these funds to set up ohisama power stations and invest in energy-saving projects at companies in the city. Revenues from the sale of electricity generated at the power stations and from energy-saving services are returned to capital investors and also distributed as profit. A combined amount of over ¥700 million was raised in investment ohisama power stations have been built at 162 locations in Nagano Prefecture for a combined capacity of 1,280 kW. The company is also engaged in energy-saving businesses and heat supply businesses utilizing forest resources (woody biomass) abundant in Ohisama Power Station (Kanae Mitsuba Nursery in Iida City).

Photo: NPO Minamishinshu Ohisama-Shinpo

the Minamishinshu area, and these businesses are estimated to be reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 1,800 tons annually.

The area is rich in energy resources, including the direct utilization of solar energy for power generation and heat supply, abundant forest resources and small-scale hydraulic power generation using perennial water resources and precipitous geological formation. Activities of an NPO to utilize natural energy as a business in collaboration with a municipal government and citizens in the community can be expected to help revitalize the local community and also lead to the building of a sound material-cycle society.

## 4 Financial Flows Heading to the Environmental Industry

Investment to be made in consideration of efforts on the environment in addition to investment criteria such as corporate profitability and growth potential is called socially responsible investment (SRI). The balance of SRI-based investment is on the increase globally.

For example, the balance of SRI-based investment in the United States has been increasing in recent years. While these assets declined between 2001 and 2003, they kept growing from 2003 onward and reached $2.7 trillion in 2007, a little over four times the 1995 level (Figure 5-3-4).

A similar trend can be observed in Europe as well. The market size for SRI kept growing since 2002, and expanded to 2.7 trillion euros in 2007, about eight times the 2002 level (Figure 5-3-5).

The number of funds making SRI investment is increasing, standing at 83 as of September 2009. The balance of net SRI investment assets in 2009 declined sharply from the previous year due to the global slowdown of economic activities, but the balance of such assets is basically on the increase since 2003 (Figure 5-3-6). On the other hand, the size of SRI investment in Japan is a far cry from compared with Europe and the

Figure5-3-4 Balance of SRI-based Investment Assets under Management in U.S.

Source: Prepared by Ministry of the Environment based on Eurosif, "European SRI Study 2008"