Japan to overtake US and Germany in solar installations

Germany and the United States have been powerhouse names in the solar industry for the last couple of years, but a new player is slowly emerging thanks to a healthy feed-in tariff (FIT): Japan.

With its FIT paying up to ¥42 per kilowatt hour, Japan is expected to grow by 120% in 2013 and install more than 5 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity according to a new report from IMS Research, part of IHS.

In fact, Japanese installation of photovoltaic (PV) systems is expected to exceed 1 GW in the first quarter of 2013 alone, and by the end of 2013 is set to jump right past Germany and the US to become the world’s second largest PV market behind China.

“At ¥42 Japan’s FIT is by far the most attractive globally—overly generous perhaps, which could lead to overheating of the market,” explained Ash Sharma, senior director of solar research at IHS.

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