Billionaire Masayoshi Son has a track record in taking on monopolies after building a business that opened up the nation's telecommunications industry. Now he aims to shake up Japan's power utilities amid the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years.
Son, the 53-year-old chief executive officer of Softbank Corp., plans to build solar farms to generate electricity with support from at least 33 prefectures. In return, he's asking for access to transmission networks owned by the 10 regional utilities and an agreement that they buy his electricity.
Radiation continues to spew across at least 600 sq. km in the Tohoku region after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami damaged the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. Prime Minister Naoto Kan said in May he will rethink the government's previously stated goal to increase atomic power to 50 percent of the nation's total from 30 percent. Renewable energy accounts for 10 percent, according to the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, and Son wants that ratio tripled by 2020.