Since Japan’s renewable energy feed-in tariff (FiT) took effect July 1, there’s been a frenzy of activity on renewable energy development and solar accounts for a vast majority of that – 83%.
Solar plants can be built much more quickly than wind, geothermal or biomass plants, which have longer lead times in addition to red tape. And since developers don’t know how long the very attractive FiT prices will last, they’re rushing to get plants built.
1780 megawatts (MW) of renewables have been approved by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry as of the end of September – 1480 MW of solar and 292 MW of wind.
The country has added 912 MW of renewable energy since April – that’s almost a gigawatt (GW) in just 5 months! and solar accounts for 885 MW of that.
And the ministry expects an eye-popping 2.5 GW of renewables to be added by the end of March 2013, for a total of 10 GW of solar.
Last week, Spain’s Gestamp Solar announced it would invest nearly $1.2 billion in Japan over the next three years to build 300 MW of rooftop solar (almost as much as its entire portfolio across 13 countries).
Other recent announcements include SB Energy’s plans for 500 MW of solar and a 1 GW wind farm; Japan Mega Solar Co. plans to build 250 solar plants adding up to 500 MW; and Kyocera’s 70 MW solar plant being built over a bay.
Investments in renewables could hit $17 billion this year, double that of 2011, says Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
Last month, the government targeted renewables to supply 40% of Japan’s electricity by 2030, up from the current 8%, which comes mostly from hydropower.
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