InsideJapan News Network

Japan hopes to increase its worldwide share in the production of solar cells to more than one-third by 2020, it has been announced.

Currently, the country's share stands at 25 per cent and its position as a market leader has been lost to foreign competitors, reports Reuters.

Solar cells are a possible alternative clean energy source to fossil fuels and production has been increasing around the world in recent years.

At the beginning of the decade, Japan manufactured around half of the world's solar cells.

Among the measures being proposed by Japan's trade ministry are government loans to facilitate the procurement of silicon and a scheme to reclaim silicon from disused solar cells.

Utility companies may also be required to buy power generated by residential solar panel arrays.

An editorial in the Asahi Shimbun said: "If Japan can build a society based on a decentralised power generation system using solar power before any other country, the system would likely catch on around the world."

Written by Mike Cotgreave