Renewable energy Japan: solar, wind, geo-thermal, and bio-mass

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Japan’s renewable energy generation is overwhelmingly water power. The ratio of renewable power generation has decreased from 25% of total electricity generation in 1970 to 10% today.

Extremely aggressive feed-in tariffs (FIT) for renewable energy introduced in July 2012 are showing first modest results to reverse this trend – initially solar energy projects dominate FIT projects, since solar projects are fastest to build.

Larger projects, such as off-shore wind power, or geo-thermal projects, take a very much longer time to plan and build – on the order of 10 years or longer.

Electricity generation in Japan from renewable sources:

Japan currently relies overwhelmingly on water power for renewable energy, which varies between 5% of total electricity in winter and around 12%-15% of total in summer, with an overall decrease since 2006. The figure shows that other renewable energy sources (wind, solar, geo-thermal and bio-mass) are still in the very early stages of development.

Over the years, electricity generation from nuclear and thermal sources has grown much faster than from renewable sources in Japan. As a result, electricity generation from renewable resources has dropped from around 25% in 1970 to around 10% in 2012. In 2012, Japan’s Government and industry associations have announced aggressive plans to reverse this trend

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Japan installed a considerable amount of both flow-type and pump-power hydro-power stations. (Pump-power hydro-power stations typically have a water reservoir with a dam at an elevated location, and a reversible generator/pump engine, which can act both as an electricity generator and as a pump, and thus act as giant batteries).

With Japan’s focus on construction of nuclear power supply, development of hydropower ended in the 1990s.

However, there is considerable capacity remaining to develop hydropower generation further in Japan, and in particular also small water power stations. Currently many local electricity enterprises build electric micro-power generation systems.

Detailed installed hydro power capacity data and electricity generation statistics and analysis in our report “Renewable energy in Japan”

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Pump-power hydro-power stations typically have a water reservoir with a dam at an elevated location, and a reversible generator/pump engine, which can act both as an electricity generator and as a pump, and thus act as giant batteries.

Pump-storage hydro power were developed as part of the network of large centralized nuclear and thermal power stations.

Detailed installed pump storage hydro power capacity data and electricity generation statistics and analysis in our report “Renewable energy in Japan”

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Under the law feed-in-tariffs are periodically reviewed and adjusted. In fact, feed-in-tariffs for solar energy have already been reduced by about 10% this year and are likely to be decreased further next year. For some types of feed-in-tariffs however, increases are under discussions – thus the FIT-tariffs for off-shore wind maybe increased in the future.

Since feed-in-tariffs for solar are set for a period of 20 years, and are decreased periodically, there is great incentive to start solar installations as early as possible, in fact some Mega-Solar plants were switched on on July 1, 2012 to use every possible day. Currently there is a rush of solar operators starting up and expanding in Japan – exactly the effect the Government had intended by setting high feed-in-tariffs.

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With a large number of volcanoes and its location on the “ring of fire”, Japan has one of the highest potentials for geo-thermal power generation in the world.

Japan developed geo-thermal power generation up until the 1990s, and then terminated development because of the focus on nuclear power plant construction.

Detailed installed wind capacity data and electricity generation statistics, and scenarios for development of wind power in Japan in our report “Renewable energy in Japan”

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Japan’s installed bio-mass generation capacity is about 5 times higher than Japan’s developed geo-thermal capacity, see our news article “Japan biomass electricity generation booming“.

https://www.eurotechnology.com/2014/07/08/japan-biomass/

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We know of a few isolated experimental ocean power trials, but we are not aware of large scale projects.

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Feed-in-tariffs for renewable energy where introduced in two stages in Japan. Large scale introduction of feed-in-tariffs (FIT) started with the Law entitled “Special measures concerning renewable energy electric power procurement by operators of electrical utilities law” which came into force on July 1, 2012. However, subsidies and feed-in-tariffs were already in place earlier for residential solar (mostly on roof-tops of private homes). Projects approved under the FIT program of July 1, 2012 amount to an increase of 41% in nominal renewable electrical generation capacity. Feed-in-tariffs however are not the whole story, because there are also programs for financial support, special finance arrangements, and tax benefits, and other support programs.

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• For SIEMENS we worked on market entry preparations, market research and strategy to enter Japan’s environmental technology markets including renewable energy, energy technology (eg electricity co-generation), lean production, radiative protection, soil pollution, recycling and much more. We research deep and wide understanding, quantitative market analysis, projections into the future, and developed market entry alternatives.
• For a San Francisco/Bay Area investment fund – and two of their investment portfolio companies – we created a broad and deep mapping of Japan’s post-Fukushima energy landscape including detailed quantitative data to assist with investment decisions for the fund and for business development and Japan market entry planning by the two portfolio companies.
• For a Japanese energy equipment company, a subsidiary of one of Japan’s leading industrial holding companies, we explored business development options in the Japanese energy space, and created an opportunity with a US electricity generation equipment manufacturer.
• For an investment fund we analyzed and performed due diligence on a Japanese fuel addiditive company to assist with decision making on a possible investment.
• For a European smart meter and wireless sensor manufacturer we worked on a technical product development project to modify the sensor products for Japan’s different technical requirements.
• For a US company selling electricity power flow market data measured by country wide networks of sensors next to electricity powerlines measuring the electro-magnetic fields, we worked on market entry to Japan, including analysis of Japan’s electricity markets and market readiness, worked on technical projects to adapt wireless sensors to Japan’s market, and worked on market entry planning.
• and many more

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Gerhard founded and builds the Ludwig Boltzmann Forum https://www.boltzmann.com/forum/ as a global leadership forum in honor of his great-grandfather, Ludwig Boltzmann. In addition to in-person Ludwig Boltzmann conferences, Gerhard builds series of global Ludwig Boltzmann video conferences: https://www.youtube.com/@Ludwig-Boltzmann/videos

• Chuck Casto: Balance of Nuclear Power Policy in Post-Fukushima Japan https://www.boltzmann.com/2017/02/chuck-casto/
• Chuck Casto: Global leadership in the extreme – crisis leadership in post-Fukushima https://www.boltzmann.com/2015/02/chuck-casto-fukushima/

• Briefing the Trade Minister of Sweden, Dr. Ewa Björling, on Japan’s energy sector (22 Nov 2013) https://www.fasol.com/2013/11/22/dr-ewa-bjorling/
• Japan’s Energy – Myths vs Reality, Stockholm School of Economics, European Institute of Japanese Studies, Embassy of Sweden, Alfred Nobel Auditorium, https://www.eurotechnology.com/2013/06/01/japans-energy-myths-vs-reality/
• Reduce your energy costs in Japan and Japan’s energy situation post-Fukushima, European Delegation (EU Embassy), Europa House, Tokyo https://www.eurotechnology.com/2017/05/21/energy-costs-in-japan/
• Japan energy mix: Keeping the lights on in Japan – deregulation, new and renewable energy, The Economist Corporate Network in Tokyo, Speakers: Shigeki (Sean) Miwa, General Manager of SoftBank’s CEO Office, and Representative Director & CEO of Bloom Energy Japan KK, and EVP of SB Energy Corporation and Gerhard Fasol, Eurotechnology Japan KK https://www.eurotechnology.com/2014/04/24/japans-energy/
• and more

more:

https://www.eurotechnology.com/category/energy

Report on Energy efficiency for Konrad Adenauer Stiftung / Japan office:

Energy Efficiency – Opportunities for Japan and Europe

Dr. Gerhard Fasol, Eurotechnology Japan KK

This report summarizes the major reasons for the Fukushima-Dai-Ichi nuclear accident and its impact, e.g. the accelerated introduction of renewable energy in Japan via feed-in-tariffs, and electricity market reform and liberalization. This report also introduces opportunities for cooperation, joint business, investments and acquisitions between Europe and Japan in the field of energy, electricity generation, efficient use of energy, and proper management of the risks associated with energy – there are many more opportunities for cooperation between Japan and Europe, beyond this report.

Details and download report as pdf-file:

https://www.kas.de/de/web/japan/publikationen/einzeltitel/-/content/energy-efficiency-opportunities-for-japan-and-europe1

Konrad Adenauer Stiftung conferences in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka on

Energy Efficiency – Economic and Ecological Potential for Japan and Europe

High energy prices are major challenges for Europe and Japan. What are the existing challenges for safe and affordable energy and what are possible solutions?

Gerhard Fasol lecture on “Japan’s Energy Efficiency – a European Viewpoint and Opportunities for Cooperation”

https://www.kas.de/de/web/japan/veranstaltungen/detail/-/content/energy-efficiency-economic-and-ecological-potential-for-japan-and-europe1