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Japan moves toward renewable energy, as nuclear lobby’s influence wanes

 “We have the technological know-how. Japan can do anything that Germany can.”

the heavy political influence once exerted by the country’s “nuclear village” of power companies and regulators is waning, experts say.

above – wind turbines, Japan

Crisis-hit Japan mulls shift to renewable energy, Knox News,  By Elaine Kurtenbach and Mari Yamaguchi Associated Press  May 6, 2012  “……..To offset the energy shortfall, utilities have ramped up oil- and gas-based generation, giving resource-poor Japan, the world’s third-largest economy, its biggest annual trade deficit ever last fiscal year. That $100 million-plus a day extra cost, worries over the risks of nuclear power and concern over carbon emissions are leading many decision-makers to view renewable energy sources such as solar, hydro and wind more positively.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has pledged to reduce Japan’s reliance on nuclear power over time. And Japan is debating renewable energy targets of between 25 percent to 35 percent of total power generation by 2030, looking to Germany, which raised the proportion of renewables from 5 percent in 1990 to 20 percent by 2010.

“If Japan has the motivation, it can do this, too,” said Sei Kato, deputy director of the Environment Ministry’s Low Carbon Society Promotion Office. “We have the technological know-how. Japan can do anything that Germany can.”…..

Hiroshi Hamasaki, an energy expert at Fujitsu Research Institute, estimates that with stable “feed-in” tariffs, which guarantee renewable energy producers a fixed price for their power, renewable energy generation could surge by 200 times over the next three years.

“There will be a boom close to a bubble, with many companies rushing to enter the market over the next three to five years,” Hamasaki said.

Although experts are enthusiastic, green energy in Japan still faces numerous obstacles and headwinds. Besides the nuclear industry’s vested interests, those barriers include stifling regulations, a power grid ill-suited to accommodating volatile solar and wind energy, and the huge upfront costs of building solar or geothermal plants. Both are technologies in which Japan is a world leader, although it has lost out to China in solar cost competitiveness.

To help move things along, the government is easing restrictions on land use for solar and wind power. It also is relaxing regulations on small hydropower projects and regulations on drilling for geothermal energy in national parks.

More crucially, last week it approved feed-in tariffs that are expected to spur investment by guaranteeing higher returns for renewable than for conventional energy. Most of the higher rates will be passed on directly to consumers…….

Son, founder of telephone company Softbank Corp., set up SB Energy Corp. in October, 2011, to promote, generate and sell renewable energy.

The company has begun building five mega-solar plants across the country, with output capacity of 2.1 megawatts to 2.8 megawatts. The first will begin operations as soon as July 1. That is still just a fraction of Japan’s 3.5 gigawatts of installed solar capacity.

The Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan says member companies are building 20 mega-solar facilities capable of providing 103 megawatts by March 2015.

A vocal critic of Japan’s business establishment for years, Son has publicly blasted Japan’s regulators and utilities for working together to block new entrants and keep the power rates consumers pay high.

But the heavy political influence once exerted by the country’s “nuclear village” of power companies and regulators is waning, experts say.

“Before, many companies were reluctant to move toward renewable energy because they were afraid of displeasing the utilities, but that has changed,” said Koichi Kitazawa, head of an independent commission investigating the Fukushima crisis and former president of the Science and Technology Agency. Many of Japan’s biggest corporations, from steel mills and automakers to ceramics and electronics makers also are developing renewable technologies, often incorporating solar and wind power features into their own offices and factories….. http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/may/06/crisis-hit-japan-mulls-shift-to-renewable-energy/

May 7, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, renewable