Japanese officials have taken a green leaf out of Aberdeenshire’s book in a bid to make their nation greener.
Japanese consul general Hajime Kitaoka visited local businesses in the Inverurie area yesterday to understand how it is leading the way for renewable energy in Scotland.
Following the Fukushima disaster in 2011 which had a devastating impact on the Japanese nuclear industry, Mr Kitaoka said his government is now looking to increase Japan’s use of renewables from 1.6% to 6%.
During his visit yesterday, he said that the north-east was a good place to learn from.
Mr Kitaoka visited Mackie’s of Scotland in Rothienorman, the Thainstone Mart and the Glen Garioch Distillery, which have all invested greatly in renewable technology.
Whilst taking a tour at the ANM Group at Thainstone, Mr Kitaoka said: “The government’s strategy is firstly to recover nuclear power generation, as expanding renewable energy will take a long time.
“But long term we hope to reduce our reliability on nuclear energy gradually as we continue to promote renewable and sustainable energy.
“We now know that solar power and wind turbines are both very important for the future of Japanese industry.”
Sustainable development officer for Aberdeenshire Council, Eric Wells, said it had taken great steps already, but that there was much to come.
“Aberdeenshire Council have been promoting renewable energy for over 10 years now, not just to businesses but to domestic users,” he said.
“Despite incentives for electricity generation being cut by the UK government, there is still huge potential for renewable heat generation, so Aberdeenshire Council will now be focusing on areas such as biomass, ground source and air source heat pumps in order to take renewable energy to more areas of the shire.
“It’s also important to shout out just how well we are doing in Aberdeenshire because we are ahead of the rest of the country in terms of the amount of locally owned generation.
“I think farmers in the north-east are not slow in coming forward when they see and opportunity to become not only more sustainable, but energy self-sufficient.”
ANM Group executive director, John Gregor, said: “I also believe it is worthwhile commending Aberdeenshire council, and Eric, for taking a lead in this area and I think businesses and farming communities should recognise that.”
