Solar in Japan expected to boom due to beliefs changed by Fukushima

Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011

China solar cell leader sees heated market via '12 feed-in tariff debut

By HIROKO NAKATA
Staff writer

The Japanese unit of Chinese solar panel maker Suntech Power Holdings Co., backed by its competitive edge in Japan's highly potential solar panel market, is looking to more than double its sales next year after suffering unexpected supply disruptions this year.


The world's largest solar module maker has also set its sights on a double-digit market share in 2012. Its share stood at 5 percent last year, fifth from the top.

The bullish outlook comes from the rising demand for renewable energy amid the Fukushima nuclear crisis. Also, the government's planned launch of a feed-in tariff next July is likely to lure more global companies to Japan's burgeoning solar power generation business.

..."People started to feel the risk of nuclear energy and that electricity is no longer limitless. They are becoming certain that natural energy will be the center of future energy sources, and this view is supporting demand," he said.

Indeed, the...

position to rebuild an entirely new energy infrastructure that could provide real job growth and economic sustainability in the years to come. We could do the same if we had the political will to make it happen.

This is from 2010:
http://www.energyboom.com/solar/japan-solar-power-installations-go-through-roof-2009
That was fueled by incentives, but Japanese were relatively enthusiastic about solar power before the Fukushima Daiichi.

Companies were developing custom solutions for Japanese households long before the 3/11 tragedy:
http://sharp-world.com/corporate/news/090303.html

They've tried a lot of things - this was expensive, but interesting (also from 2009):
http://www.upiasia.com/Economics/2009/11/26/japan_experiments_with_fuel-cell_home_generator/8163/

From 2008 - this has been a longstanding project of multiple governments:
http://www.japanfs.org/en/mailmagazine/newsletter/pages/027851.html

And then there's always IKAROS, which admittedly has nothing to do with power at earth, but is just the coolest thing ever:
http://www.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/ikaros/index_e.html

However, coming back to earth, the major problem the Japanese have with renewables is that their electric grid has to be massively redone. By the time they double currently installed solar and wind capacity, their grid will be coming close to the end of its capacity to accept the power and it is one reason why investors are dallying:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/22/us-japan-renewables-idUSTRE77L1AR20110822

They approved the feed-in tariffs, but the next segment has to be the transmission grid, and that isn't even being addressed to date.
http://theenergycollective.com/jimpierobon/65202/japan-joins-germany-italy-china-ontario-new-feed-tariffs-30-gigawatts-renewables-5

Are you aware of the major difference between past programs and the Fukushima inspired one?
The difference reported on is the increase in per kilowatt hour compensation. What isn't reported on, but is actually far more significant to policy geeks is that the past programs have not really been what most people consider feed-in tariffs because they only reimburse the owners for power that they generate that is in excess of their total use. So let's say you use 700kwh/month and your solar system produces 800kwh/month. You'd only be paid for the 100kwh.

This is an extremely unfair system to the homeowner since the utility basically trades mostly their low-value offpeak power for the solar owner's high-value peak power.

The new tariffs are designed to reimburse the slightly higher tariff amount for the entire amount of electricity produced. The ONLY way this got through over the objections of the utilities was the public sentiment about nuclear power after Fukushima.