As regards the renewable energy feed-in tariff (FIT) system launched in July, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) released September 26 the installed capacity that has been approved (approved installation) during the two months up to the end of August. The installed capacity of non-residential solar photovoltaic systems, whose unit purchase price is 42 yen per kWh, has grown to 725 MW, more than initially expected. While METI projected that the installed capacity of renewable energy introduced in the current fiscal year (ending at the end of March 2013) would be about 2,500 MW, this level is likely to be exceeded by the end of 2012.
Although it does not mean that all of the approved installation will start operation within the current fiscal year, the growth is “faster than expected,” said a METI official in charge of new-energy policy. The total approved installed capacity as of the end of August is 1,300 MW (about 72,000 items), whose breakdown is as follows (excluding non-residential photovoltaic systems): (1) 306 MW for residential photovoltaic systems, (2) 262 MW for wind power systems, (3) 1 MW for small and medium hydropower systems whose capacities are less than 1 MW and (4) 6 MW for biomass power systems.
While METI projected that the capacity of non-residential photovoltaic systems introduced in the current fiscal year would be about 500 MW, this level has been exceeded on an approved installation basis in the two months after the start of the FIT system. About 80 per cent of the 725-MW growth corresponds to large-scale photovoltaic (mega solar) systems. Because purchase prices are set high, manufactures “can earn more money as they produce more products,” said a source familiar with photovoltaic power generation. It appears therefore that financial institutions are aggressively financing the production.
