SOLAR GENERATION - Greenpeace

PART THREE: THE SOLAR RACE
Japan’s national programmes for renewables during 2004
include:
• RPS Law (2003) obliges electric utilities to achieve a target for
1.35% of their electricity supply to come from renewable energy
sources, including solar, by 2010.
• The Regional New Energy Introduction Project aims to accelerate
the introduction of new energy (renewable) technologies by
supporting regional government projects. Half of system
installation costs are subsidised.
• The Subsidy Programme for New Energy Industrialists supports
businesses which plan to introduce new energy, including PV.
• The programme for development of regional new energy visions
helps local government and related bodies to create visions for
facilitating promotion of renewable energy at local levels.
ECONOMICS
Japan has had an aggressive PV R&D programme since the late
1970s, with virtually all funds directed at developing an
industry capable of competing in the world market, and with
cost reductions that would also serve the domestic market.
In the past five years PV system costs have reduced by another
33%. In the future it is expected that the average price of a
residential PV system will fall even further, to below $ 4,000/
kWp. Even so, the cost of PV electricity is still presently more
than twice the price of conventional domestic power, which is
exceptionally expensive in Japan. If the added value of solar
systems in environmental terms was monetised for customers,
however, PV would be able to compete much earlier than
expected.
One other factor is the introduction of premium green pricing
for renewable electricity. All ten Japanese regional power
utilities introduced a “Green Power Fund” at a monthly rate of
$ 1-4 from October 2000, with the companies matching this
amount towards the installation of new renewable plants.
Most electric utilities also have net metering systems by which
they buy PV electricity from individual customers. As a result of
the RPS law, however, some utilities have refused to buy at the
same price level when they cannot use credits from the PV
electricity put into the grid by individual customers for
achieving their respective RPS targets. In these cases, the
purchase price has fallen dramatically to 3-5 cents per kWh.
NATIONAL TARGETS
Following the climate change summit at Kyoto in 1997, Japan
announced (in 2001) an accelerated target to install 4,820 MW
of PV by 2010. Projections by the Japan Photovoltaic Energy
Association (JPEA) show that annual installations could reach
1,230 MWp by 2010, with a corresponding market size of $ 4.5
billion. Looking further ahead, the goal set by JPEA is to increase
the annual market to 4,300 MWp by 2020, with a total capacity
of 28,700 MWp installed. For 2030 the goal is to reach an annual
market of 10,000 MWp, with a cumulative installed capacity of
82,800 MWp. By then the PV industry in Japan would have
created 300,000 jobs, the PV installation rate would be at 45%
for detached houses and the price for a kWp PV system would
have fallen below $ 2,000.
The total future potential for PV power generation in Japan is as
much as 173 GW, according to calculations made by the
government agency METI in 2000.
Prime Power
PV has been installed on a new building at the official residence
of the Japanese Prime Minister, a symbol that solar power is
central to the country’s future energy regime.
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