[Feed-in Tariff for Renewable Energy in Japan]

Baskoro Lokahita
Jun 18, 2015
2 min read

Feed-in Tariff Scheme in Japan

After the sign of "Act on Purchase of Renewable Energy Sourced Electricity by Electric Utilities", Japan will begin to purchase electricity generated from renewable energy sources (Solar PV, Wind power, Hydraulic power, Geothermal and Biomass) based on a fixed-period contract with fixed price. Electricity producers can give request to electric company in their area to buy produced electricity. It is an obligatory for electric companies in Japan to buy it. Costs of purchased electricity generated from renewable energy shall be transferred to electricity customers all over Japan in the form of a nationwide equal surcharge. They shall pay the surcharge for renewable energy proportional to electricity usage.

Photovoltaic (Solar Panel)

As one of renewable energy mentioned in the Law, not only large company who could generate electricity from PV, household could also participate in this activity. The price for solar PV power generation of less than 10 kW is seemingly the same as that for solar PV power generation of 10 kW or more. However, considering the subsidy of 35,000 yen per kW (FY2012) granted for power generation using systems for residences, the price will be 48 yen in effect. Household solar PV facility must have wiring for supplying excess electricity (a wiring structure for first allocating the generated electricity to power consumption within the residence, and then supplying the remaining electricity to the electric utility). Below is the prices of PV panel from some companies.

Installation of PV

Merit and Demerit of FIT

Merit

It will minimize electricity costs
Power surplus can be sold to power company
You get subsidies
Also you can use electricity in the event of a power failure or disasters
Thermal insulation effect (cooler in summer)
Energy source will reduces the CO2

Demerit

Initial cost is high
Need huge space for higher capacity
Production of PV panels is using toxic material such as mercury and cadmium which will create another environmental problem
Low efficiency
Solar power is a variable energy source, with energy production dependent on the sun. Solar facilities may produce no power at all some of the time, which could lead to an energy shortage if too much of a region's power comes from solar power.

References

http://kakaku.com/taiyoukou/
http://www.meti.go.jp/english/policy/energy_environment/renewable/
http://www.meti.go.jp/english/policy/energy_environment/renewable/pdf/summary201209.pdf
http://pvcalc.org/pvcalc