nuclear-news

Solar power plants for Japan

Sojitz Sees Beyond Rare Earths to LNG, Solar in Non-Atomic Japan, Bloomberg by Yuriy Humber & Ichiro Suzuki – Dec 13, 2012  “….Another way for Sojitz to meet the changing energy needs of Japan will be via renewables.

Solar Power

Sojitz wants to build five solar power plants totaling about 100 megawatts, including on the northern isle of Hokkaido and in Kagoshima prefecture, western Japan, Sato said. The trader aims to register the projects with the government by the end of March, he said.

Japan introduced this year the world’s highest payment rate for renewable energy, known as a feed-in tariff, as a way to stimulate investments in solar, wind and biomass generation and ease reliance on nuclear power. The tariff rate will be revised from April.

“With a fixed feed-in tariff the economics set up has become very easy to understand,” Sato said.

The current low cost of raw materials for solar panels and Sojitz’s experience with three solar energy projects in Germany should help the trader set up an efficient business in Japan, Sato said. The company has since sold one of the projects, he said.

Sojitz commissioned a 24 megawatt solar plant in Mixdorf in July 2011 and completed a 3 megawatt station in Betzweiler in May 2010, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance data……http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-14/sojitz-sees-beyond-rare-earths-to-lng-solar-in-non-atomic-japan.html

December 14, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, renewable