Tokyo makes solar panels mandatory for new homes built after 2025

FILE PHOTO: The sun is reflected on a solar panel at a solar power field in Kawasaki, near Tokyo June 13, 2012. REUTERS/Toru Hanai/File Photo

TOKYO (Reuters) - All new houses in Tokyo built by large-scale homebuilders after April 2025 must install solar power panels to cut household carbon emissions, according to a new regulation passed by the Japanese capital's local assembly on Thursday.

The mandate, the first of its kind for a Japanese municipality, requires about 50 major builders to equip homes of up to 2,000 square metres (21,500 square feet) with renewable energy power sources, mainly solar panels.