Wakayama Prefecture in western Japan will launch its "Mini Solar Project" in collaboration with a company to revitalize local communities using revenue from the sales of renewable solar electricity, according to an announcement on January 9, 2013. In this project, an underpopulated municipality lends its unused facilities to a company, and the company installs a small-scale solar power generation system at the site. Then, part of the revenue from selling generated power is paid to the municipality and used for regional development. This initiative is the first of its kind in Japan.