The history and future of the Japanese solar photovoltaic market
DOI: 10.1063/1.5027503
The history and future of the Japanese solar photovoltaic market lead image
In 2017, a new system was launched to stimulate Japan’s photovoltaic (PV) market. But, the question remains, will this help the Japanese market to become more sustainable? French-Spanish physicist and Japanese resident, Veronica Bermúdez sought to answer this question through analyzing the market evolution of several countries and has now reported her findings in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy.
There was a solar boom in Japan in 2012 as a result of the government introducing generous feed-in-tariffs (FITs), which attracted huge investment. This was like the generous FIT system offered in Spain; however, after initial surges in investment, both schemes have fallen into trouble. In Spain, the overly generous FITs caused a deficit, which along with bad political policies and the financial crisis led to the 2008 “bust” of their PV market.
The Japanese PV market has its own distinct problems with grid interconnectivity and land acquisition. These issues led to poor project actualization and a subsequent decline in market growth in the past couple of years. Both Japan and Spain have cut off their FIT programs, but while Spain has failed to replace it, Japan has transitioned to a tender system in the hope that this will create a more sustainable PV market.
This new system is particularly attractive for the residential market. “The new system will promote rooftop PV with batteries for self-consumption, and so remove land and connectivity issues,” said Bermúdez. New French policies focus on a similar tender policy that again hopes to solve connectivity restrictions by targeting residential installations. Bermúdez believes the new system will allow sustainable and competitive growth of the PV market in Japan, so preventing the country from becoming the lost “El Dorado” of solar PV.
Source: “Japan, the new “El Dorado” of solar PV?,” by Veronica Bermúdez, Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy (2018). The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5024431 .
