{"id":4104,"date":"2013-06-16T05:35:36","date_gmt":"2013-06-16T09:35:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=4104"},"modified":"2013-06-16T05:44:08","modified_gmt":"2013-06-16T09:44:08","slug":"solar-power-in-japan-to-equal-7-nukes-by-end-of-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/06\/solar-power-in-japan-to-equal-7-nukes-by-end-of-this-year.html","title":{"rendered":"Solar power in Japan to equal 7 nukes by end of this year"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\nA Japanese feed-in tariff apparently provoked an explosion of solar power,\r\nmaking Japan head up towards China and Germany in installed solar power.\r\nWhere is the U.S.?\r\nWhere is Georgia, with much more sun than Japan?\r\nMaybe there is something more to learn from Fukushima after all, SO CEO Tom Fanning.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nMichael Fitzpatrick wrote for Fortune 13 June 2013,\r\n\r\nJapan: The world\u2019s new star in solar power; China and Germany have new competition at the top,<\/a>\r\n\r\n

\r\n

\r\n
\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n
\r\nPV cell production and shipment (GWp) in Japan: Total (orange), Export (green), and Domestic (blue)\r\n
\r\n\r\n\r\n\u3057\u3070\u3068\u3082\r\n<\/td><\/tr><\/table>\r\nAccording to a report by energy analyst IHS on Japan’s energy mix,\r\nJapan’s solar installations jumped by “a stunning 270% (in\r\ngigawatts) in the first quarter of 2013.” That means by the end of\r\n2013 there will be enough new solar panels equal to the capacity of\r\nseven nuclear reactors. Such massive growth will allow Japan to\r\nsurpass Germany and become the world’s largest photovoltaics (PV)\r\nmarket in terms of revenue this year.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nHow did this happen?\r\nChico Harlan wrote for Washington Post 4 June 2013,\r\n\r\nIn Japan, new policy spurs solar power boom<\/a>,\r\n

\r\n

\r\nAcross Japan, technology firms and private investors are racing to\r\ninstall devices that until recently they had little interest in:\r\nsolar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up by the dozen, and\r\ncompanies are mounting panels atop warehouse and factory rooftops as\r\npart of a rapid buildup that one developer likened to an\r\n“explosion.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe boom is striking in part because of how simply it was sparked\r\n— by a little-noted government policy, implemented nearly a\r\nyear ago, that suddenly guaranteed generous payments to anybody\r\nselling renewable energy, including solar power.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nBecause of that policy, known as a feed-in tariff, Japan has become\r\none of the world’s fastest-growing users of solar energy, investors\r\nand analysts say, a shift that comes as this resource-poor country\r\ntries to find clean and homegrown alternatives to nuclear power.\r\nThis year alone, Japan is forecast to install solar panels with the\r\ncapacity of five to seven modern nuclear reactors.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nThe wapo article then makes a false claim that solar and wind cost more\r\n(this ignores no cost of fuel, no cost of meltdowns, etc.).\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nBack to the Fortune article:\r\n

\r\n

\r\nUntil recently less than 1 percent of Japan’s electrical power\r\noutput came from renewables. But following the catastrophe of\r\nFukushima and the power blackouts that followed, Japan has seen an\r\nexplosion in investment in alternatives. Solar, in particular, in\r\nthis averagely photon-blessed country, has seen a seismic rise of\r\nlate and is this year poised to become the world’s largest solar\r\nmarket in volume after China.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nAccording to a report by energy analyst IHS on Japan’s energy mix,\r\nJapan’s solar installations jumped by “a stunning 270 percent\r\n(in gigawatts) in the first quarter of 2013.” That means by\r\nthe end of 2013 there will be enough new solar panels equal to the\r\ncapacity of seven nuclear reactors. Such massive growth will allow\r\nJapan to surpass Germany and become the world’s largest\r\nphotovoltaics (PV) market in terms of revenue this year.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“Japan is forecast to install $20 billion worth of PV systems\r\nin 2013, up 82 percent from $11 billion in 2012,” IHS said.\r\n“In contrast, the global market is set for tepid 4 percent\r\ngrowth. The strong revenue performance for Japan this year is partly\r\ndriven by the high solar prices in the country.” Germany still\r\nleads with the total number of units and capacity, however, with its\r\n32,192 megawatts. Japan is now closer to the US’s 8,069 megawatts at\r\n7,429 megawatts, according to London-based BNEF.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nSolar energy in Japan has come to dominate thanks to government\r\nincentives now offered to the producers of renewables and rules\r\nwhich require public power utilities to buy alternative power at\r\nabove-market rates. A deal forged by the last government desperate\r\nto wean Japan from its addiction to oil and nuclear power led to the\r\nimplementation of a very generous feed-in tariff (FIT) for renewable\r\npower generators.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nIn Georgia, how about we start by \r\ncapping cost overruns<\/a> for Georgia Power and Southern Company’s Plant Vogtle nuke boondoggle and\r\n\r\nfixing that antiquated 1973 Territorial Electric Service Act<\/a> to\r\nfacilitate solar power financing and resale through the grid.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

\r\nInvestors saw it coming says Hisashi Hoshi of the Institute of\r\nEnergy Economics. “Despite a shortage of available land in\r\nJapan, many corporations who had unused land have rushed in. They\r\ncan now exploit those plots, once earmarked for expansion that never\r\ncame, to make money by building solar panels and selling on that\r\nenergy to the utility companies at a good profit.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nHm, how about all those unused industrial parks we’ve got around here?\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

\r\nA 26.5 gigawatt solar power plant in western Japan, enough to power\r\n9,000 households, opened last month, typically built on an unused\r\nfactory site. Even mothballed golf courses from the ’80s bubble\r\nyears are being pressed into productive service, says Hoshi.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nHey, the Country Club could get into the act!\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nAnd this is what we need in south Georgia:\r\n

\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n“How long the boom in solar can last in Japan is hard to tell,\r\nbut as land runs out, there will be slowdown,” says Hoshi.\r\n“Of course there are still the rooftops to exploit as mobile\r\ncarrier Softbank is doing. It’s renting rooftops for solar — a\r\nvery smart and interesting business model. Perhaps, unlike previous\r\nattempts to deregulate Japan’s electric utility industry, this\r\nshould be a success.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nRooftop solar for power, profit, and jobs!\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n -jsq\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Japanese feed-in tariff apparently provoked an explosion of solar power, making Japan head up towards China and Germany in installed solar power. Where is the U.S.? Where is Georgia, with much more sun than Japan? Maybe there is something more to learn from Fukushima after all, SO CEO Tom Fanning. Michael Fitzpatrick wrote for […]","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[14,18,104,23,24,178],"tags":[8704,8701,8708,6440,427,8702,12,7,8737,8713,6439,8714,108,6,8749],"class_list":["post-4104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economy","category-georgia-power","category-nuclear","category-renewable-energy","category-solar","category-vlcia","tag-economy","tag-georgia","tag-georgia-power","tag-ihs","tag-japan","tag-lake","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-nuclear","tag-renewable-energy","tag-sharp","tag-solar","tag-southern-company","tag-valdosta","tag-vlcia"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-14c","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4104"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4109,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4104\/revisions\/4109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}