Solar power in Japan has been expanding since the late 1990s. The country is a major manufacturer and exporter of

photovoltaics Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially ...

(PV) and a large installer of domestic PV systems, with most of them grid connected. Japan has a

solar irradiance Solar irradiance is the power per unit area ( surface power density) received from the Sun in the form of electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range of the measuring instrument. Solar irradiance is measured in watts per square metre ...

of about 4.3 to 4.8 kWh/(m²·day). Solar power has become an important national priority since the country's shift in policies toward renewable energy after the

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster The was a nuclear accident in 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan. The proximate cause of the disaster was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which occurred on the afternoon of 11 March 2011 ...

in 2011. Japan was the world's second largest market for solar PV growth in 2013 and 2014, adding a record 6.97 GW and 9.74 GW of nominal nameplate capacity, respectively. By the end of 2017, cumulative capacity reached 50 GW, the world's second largest solar PV installed capacity, behind

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

.Pv-magazine FEBRUARY 15, 2018. "Japan will likely install 6 GW to 7.5 GW (DC) of solar in 2018, from about 7 GW in 2017..." Overall installed capacity in 2016 was estimated to be sufficient to supply almost 5% of the nation's annual electricity demand.

Solar manufacturing industry

Japanese manufacturers and exporters of

include

Kyocera is a Japanese multinational ceramics and electronics manufacturer headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It was founded as in 1959 by Kazuo Inamori and renamed in 1982. It manufactures industrial ceramics, solar power generating systems, telecommunic ...

, Mitsubishi Electric,

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is a Japanese multinational engineering, electrical equipment and electronics corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MHI is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group and its automobile division is the predecessor of Mitsubishi Mo ...

Sanyo , stylized as SANYO, is a Japanese electronics company and formerly a member of the Fortune Global 500, ''Fortune'' Global 500 whose headquarters was located in Moriguchi, Osaka, Moriguchi, Osaka prefecture, Japan. Sanyo had over 230 subsidiari ...

Sharp Solar Sharp Solar, a subsidiary of Sharp Electronics, is a solar energy products company owned by Sharp Corporation and based in Osaka, Japan. Products The company produces thin film modules and mono and poly-crystalline silicon solar cells. Sharp's ...

Solar Frontier Solar Frontier Kabushiki Kaisha is a Japanese photovoltaic company that develops and manufactures thin film solar cells using CIGS technology. It is a fully owned subsidiary of Showa Shell Sekiyu and located in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The company ...

, and

Toshiba , commonly known as Toshiba and stylized as TOSHIBA, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure system ...

Government action

Feed-in tariff

The Japanese government is seeking to expand solar power by enacting subsidies and a

feed-in tariff A feed-in tariff (FIT, FiT, standard offer contract,Couture, T., Cory, K., Kreycik, C., Williams, E., (2010)Policymaker's Guide to Feed-in Tariff Policy Design National Renewable Energy Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy advanced renewable tariff, ...

(FIT). In December 2008, the

Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry The or METI, is a ministry of the Government of Japan. It was created by the 2001 Central Government Reform when the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) merged with agencies from other ministries related to economic activities ...

announced a goal of 70% of new homes having solar power installed, and would be spending $145 million in the first quarter of 2009 to encourage home solar power. The government enacted a feed-in tariff on November, 2009 that requires utilities to purchase excess solar power sent to the grid by homes and businesses and pay twice the standard electricity rate for that power. On June 18, 2012, a new feed-in tariff was approved, of 42 Yen/kWh. The tariff covers the first ten years of excess generation for systems less than 10 kW, and generation for twenty years for systems over 10 kW. It became effective July 1, 2012. In April 2013, the FIT was reduced to 37.8 Yen/kWh. The FIT was further reduced to 32 Yen/kWh in April 2014. In March 2016, a new feed-in tariff was approved. The Procurement Price Calculation Committee compiled and publicized recommendations concerning the FY 2016 purchase prices and the periods therefor. Respecting the recommendations, METI finalized the prices and periods therefor as below. (1) Electricity generated by photovoltaic power for non-household customers (10 kW or more) was reduced from 27 yen/kWh to 24 yen/kWh. (2) Electricity generated by photovoltaic power for household customers (10 kW or less) was reduced from 33 yen/kWh to 31 yen/kWh when generators are not required to have output control equipment installed. When generators are required to have output control equipment installed the price was reduced from 35 yen/kWh to 33 yen/kWh. Residential PV feed-in tariffs for systems below 10 kW were updated in 2017 to values between JPY24/kWh to JPY28/kWh depending on the circumstances. These will remain unchanged until 2019. The most recent FIT only concerns non-residential solar power plants. The new non-residential FIT will go from JPY21/kWh in 2017 to JPY18/kWh for facilities certified in and after April 2018.

Targets

The government set solar PV targets in 2004 and revised them in 2009: * 28 GW of solar PV capacity by 2020 * 53 GW of solar PV capacity by 2030 * 10% of total domestic primary energy demand met with solar PV by 2050 The targets set for 2020 were surpassed in 2014, and the target for 2030 was surpassed in 2018. As of July 2021, Japan was aiming at 108 GW of solar capacity by 2030. In May 2021, the Japanese Trade Ministry said that Japan may require up to 370 GW of solar capacity by 2050 to reach the goal of cutting carbon emissions to zero.

Photovoltaics installed capacity and generation

References

External links

*
Electrical Japan: Google Maps of Power Stations (Solar)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Solar Power In Japan

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...