CCome March, exactly a year after the country yielded to the debilitating 9.0 earthquake and tsunami, ultimately rendering the worst nuclear power plant meltdown the world has seen in 25 years, Japan will most likely announce a new set of options for its energy mix. One, presumably, that is not focused on nuclear power alone.

Ever since the catastrophic event, Japan's national legislature had received numerous and far arguably better proposals to incorporate a mix of energy conservation, renewable energy and customer choice into its domestic power supply.

A day before the tragic natural phenomenon, Japan was seriously intent on carrying out a nuclear power future. A year ago in 2010, Japan's electricity supply made up of 29 per cent nuclear energy, the world's third biggest nuclear power generator. On this, a then government master plan aimed to increase the country's nuclear power dependency to 41 per cent by 2017 and 50 per cent by 2030.

The country has a dearth of energy resources. In fact it is the world's third-largest net importer of crude oil, as well as the world's largest importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and coal. The country, despite being the third largest economy in the world behind the U.S. and China, is only 16 per cent energy sufficient.

The following day, March 11, 2011, the unexpected happened, altering not only Japan's geographical landscape but also forcing its energy sector to unexpectedly and immediately swing from a nuclear-powered state to one that is what is available, so to speak. Immediately, Japan shifted to clean energy, primarily its wind farms, which kept going and offered hope when most of Japan's other power sources fluctuated.

As present, Japan generates from renewable sources 10 percent of its electricity needs, including 8 per cent from hydropower. It is the world's fourth-largest solar market with 3.8 gigawatts (GW) installed capacity and has 2.5 GW installed wind power capacity, the www.earthandindustry.com reported.

Federal government is likewise bolstering efforts to increase investor and business participation in solar projects, another form of clean energy. Japan's solar market is also seen to boom, with the head of the Japan Photovoltaic Energy Association predicting domestic shipments of solar panels will grow ten-fold.

The master plan options are expected to be presented by the end of March, after which the new plan will take effect in summer.