Japan: Kirin Brewery Co., the second largest Japan’s beer-maker, announced recently it will install its first solar power system at the Kobe brewery in June 2005. Similar systems will be built at its breweries in Hiroshima and Fukuoka this year, Asia in Focus commented on February 7.

The Kobe brewery will have a 20-kilowatt system capable of generating some 22,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, which will cut the plant's annual CO2 emissions by 1.8 tons. Kirin has asked for a grant from the government-affiliated New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) to help cover costs.

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