A Brief History of Renewables in Japan
Posted by Eswar Mani August 13, 2020
Japan’s renewable energy program started in 2012, as a direct response to the March 11th, 2011 Earthquake. The ensuing nuclear disaster posed to the then ruling Democratic Party of Japan that over-reliance on nuclear was unreliable and unsafe. They started the Renewable Energy Feed-In Tariff (FIT) Program in June 2012. This FIT program provided a Japanese government-backed assurance to the electric utilities (TEPCO, Kansai Electric, etc) to purchase solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass energy at a significant premium to the market price. This subsidy spurred the industry. Wholesale markets electricity price is ~JPY8/kwh during a normal year, and we pay for home electricity bills JPY20+/kwh. The first year of the solar feed-in tariff program assured that solar plants would receive a JPY40/kwh tariff.
Subsidies spur industry, the significant amount of excess pricing on this tariff, in my opinion, attracted the wrong crowds to the solar industry. 地上げ屋, who made money in the real estate bubble in Japan of the 80s, started amalgamating land and applying for the Feed-in Tariff. I would call many of the development plots spurious since one would not be able to build solar at all (e.g. trees shading solar farm reduces capacity, no appropriate permits for construction).
Furthermore, in other countries, when the government grants a FIT certificate or any approval, there is a quality check procedure. In this case, anyone who applied for the FIT permit received it, even if they didn’t have access to the land or funding. As a result, some people held the land, while other people held the permits, and there was a significant amount of demand for solar FIT (90GW), but what was able to be created was only ~35GW.
Finally, because of the robust FIT subsidy (2012 JPY40/kwh vs JPY20/kwh), developers could ask construction companies to slice of mountains to build a solar farm. Flat land is a scarce resource in Japan, which is crucial to a large solar farm. The initial subsidy was so robust that hills, mountains, and trees were all chopped down to make way for development. The local municipalities, construction companies, and national government were starving for cash after the economy fell in 2011, so allowed for corners to be cut.
1) Subsidies attracted market entrants who tarnished the reputation of the renewables industry.
2) Japanese government’s execution of the FIT program was poor.
3) No consideration for natural destruction
We dealt with the market participants by performing a background check and reputational check on all our counterparties. As the government’s quality check was lacking, we spent significant resources on due diligence for each aspect of the renewable energy asset. When building renewable energy projects, we also ensured that our stakeholder assessment map and environmental considerations were more robust than the government and part of global best-in-class methods, so we would not even inadvertently cause natural destruction. This meant we needed to follow our investment criteria.
"Mfano wa ""Mashine ya Nishati ya Kijapani"" ni mradi wa nishati mbadala ulioanzishwa mnamo Machi 11, 2011 na kuanzishwa mnamo Machi 11, 2011 na kuanzishwa mnamo Machi 11, 2011 na kuanzishwa mnamo Machi 11, 2011 na kuanzishwa mnamo Machi 11, 2011." Msiba wa nyuklia uliotokea ulimfanya Chama cha Kidemokrasia cha Japani kilichokuwa kikitawala wakati huo kiamini kwamba kutegemea sana nyuklia hakukuwa na uhakika na hakukuwa salama. Mkataba wa Renewable Energy Feed-In Tariff (RETF) ulifanyika mnamo Juni 2012. Programu hii ya FIT ilitoa dhamana ya serikali ya Japani kwa huduma za umeme (TEPCO, Kansai Electric, nk) kununua nishati ya jua, upepo, joto la ardhi, na nishati ya biomass kwa malipo makubwa kwa bei ya soko. Msaada huo ulichochea sekta hiyo. Kwa mfano, bei ya umeme ya jumla ya soko ni ~ JPY 8 kwa kila kilowatt saa kwa mwaka, na gharama za umeme za nyumbani ni JPY 20 kwa kila kilowatt saa. Mwaka wa kwanza wa mpango wa ushuru wa nishati ya jua ulihakikisha kuwa mitambo ya jua itapokea ushuru wa JPY 40 kwa kilowatt. "Subsidies kuchochea sekta, kiasi kikubwa cha bei ya ziada juu ya ushuru huu, kwa maoni yangu, kuvutia umati mbaya kwa sekta ya jua. """ "Mwanzoni mwa miaka ya 1980, kampuni ya ""Jiple"" ilijenga nyumba katika eneo la Japan na kuanza kuanzisha mashirika ya ujenzi wa ardhi na kuanzisha mashirika ya ujenzi wa ardhi." "Kama vile, ""mengi ya mipango ya maendeleo ya ardhi ni bandia, kwa kuwa mtu hawezi kujenga nishati ya jua kabisa.""" Miti ya jua ya jua ya jua ya jua ya jua ya jua ya jua ya jua ya jua ya jua ya jua ya jua ya jua ya jua ya jua ya jua ya jua ya jua ya jua ya jua ya jua ya jua ya jua ya jua ya jua ya jua ya jua ya jua ya jua Kwa kuongezea, katika nchi nyingine, wakati serikali inatoa cheti cha FIT au idhini yoyote, kuna utaratibu wa ukaguzi wa ubora. Katika kesi hii, mtu yeyote ambaye aliomba kibali cha FIT alipokea, hata kama hakuwa na upatikanaji wa ardhi au ufadhili. Kwa sababu hiyo, watu fulani walishikilia ardhi, wakati wengine walishikilia vibali, na kulikuwa na kiasi kikubwa cha mahitaji ya FIT ya jua (90GW), lakini kile kilichokuwa na uwezo wa kuundwa ilikuwa tu ~ 35GW. Kwa sababu ya msaada mkubwa wa FIT (JPY 40 kwa kWh dhidi ya JPY 20 kwa kWh), watengenezaji wanaweza kuomba kampuni za ujenzi kukata milima ili kujenga shamba la jua. Ardhi tambarare ni rasilimali adimu nchini Japani, ambayo ni muhimu kwa shamba kubwa la jua. Msaada wa awali ulikuwa mkubwa sana hivi kwamba vilima, milima, na miti yote ilikatwa ili kufanyiza njia ya maendeleo. Serikali za mitaa, kampuni za ujenzi na serikali ya kitaifa zilikuwa na njaa ya fedha baada ya uchumi kuanguka mnamo 2011, kwa hivyo kuruhusu pembe kukatwa. 1) Subsidies kuvutia market entrants ambao tarnished sifa ya sekta ya nishati mbadala. 2) Utekelezaji wa serikali ya Japani wa mpango wa FIT ulikuwa duni. 3) Hakuna kuzingatia kwa uharibifu wa asili: Tulishughulika na washiriki wa soko kwa kufanya ukaguzi wa nyuma na ukaguzi wa sifa kwa washirika wetu wote. Kwa kuwa serikali haikuangalia ubora, tulitumia rasilimali nyingi kwa bidii kwa kila kipengele cha mali ya nishati mbadala. """Wakati wa kujenga miradi ya nishati mbadala, tulihakikisha pia kwamba ramani yetu ya tathmini ya wadau na kuzingatia mazingira ilikuwa imara zaidi kuliko serikali na sehemu ya mbinu bora za kimataifa, kwa hivyo hatutasababisha uharibifu wa asili bila kukusudia." Hii ilimaanisha tulihitaji kufuata vigezo vyetu vya uwekezaji.