Kozu Island, which belongs to Tokyo but is about 170 kilometers from the capital, was hit by a typhoon on Oct. 11, 2019. Strong winds blew at speeds of nearly 180 kph and the entire area was without power for about six hours in the evening.
About 70 people evacuated to a community center on the island, which was equipped with solar panels and storage batteries. There, the evacuees had lighting and fans to keep them cool.
“The night storm cut the power and I was feeling faint, but I was relieved to see the lights on,” said a 72-year-old woman who runs a guesthouse on the island.
The island used to rely on diesel power generation, but in 2017, solar power was installed at public facilities in anticipation of a disaster or bad weather that would make it impossible to procure fuel oil from off-island sources.
“It’s very useful because typhoons and power outages come to us as a set every year,” said a municipal official.
A survey conducted in 2019 by the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry showed that of 254 surveyed remote islands, 59 have installed renewable energy generators in public facilities, doubling from 27 islands in 2012.
According to electric power companies, the amount of renewable energy generated is on the rise on remote islands, which are separated from mainland power grids.