Tokyo Report: Japan to Promote Solar Power Output

Tokyo, July 5 (Jiji Press)--With increasing international efforts to promote photovoltaic power generation to combat global warming and stimulate economic activity, Japan is determined to return as a leader in the field.

Germany is widely regarded as a model case because photovoltaic
power generation has rapidly spread in the country since the government
introduced a program in 2004 to buy all electricity generated by solar
systems at a high fixed price for 20 years.
The program has contributed to the development of related
industries in Germany, creating some 60,000 jobs, especially in the former
East Germany.
While a large number of countries have followed suit, there have
been unsuccessful cases as a result of poorly designed programs.
Spain, for example, launched a program in 2007 to buy photovoltaic
power at a fixed price three times higher than regular power rates for 25
years. The program attracted an enormous amount of speculative investment
from abroad, and in 2008 alone, the number of solar power generation systems
installed in Spain exceeded all such systems in Japan.
The Spanish government subsequently cut the purchase price sharply
and set an upper limit on the installation of solar generation systems.
Although the countermeasures burst the market bubble, the government must
shoulder the huge financial burden of buying photovoltaic power for more
than 20 years.
Germany has its own problems. Because Germany has fewer hours of
sunshine than many other countries, including Japan, the rapid spread of
photovoltaic power generation would not have been possible without the high
purchase price, according to a German official familiar with the issue.
Complaints that the program is not contributing to the German
economy are growing, especially with the recent increase in imports of solar
generation facilities from China and other countries.
Planning a steep hike in the price of purchasing electricity
produced by wind power stations on the sea, the German government seems to
have made a priority shift to wind-power generation, says an official at the
Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
Japan used to lead the world in photovoltaic power generation. But
the appeal of solar power waned after the government ended a subsidiary
program in 2005 that promoted home-use systems. Japan now trails Germany and
Spain in cumulative volume of facilities installed and lags far behind China
in terms of solar cell production.
The government reinstated the subsidy program in January 2009 and
launched a 10-year program in November to buy surplus solar electricity at
prices twice as high as ordinary power rates.
Shipments of solar cells by Japanese manufacturers jumped 50 pct in
fiscal 2009 over the previous year.
Solar power generation still has "much room for growth in Japan"
and covers a wide area, from the production of materials to installation of
facilities, a METI official said.
To purchase surplus solar electricity is Japan's approach to
encouraging energy saving, according to the Japan Photovoltaic Energy
Association.
But experts point out that buying all electricity will facilitate
solar power generation because generators can foresee future earnings more
readily.
A project team set up by the government is studying which of the
two purchase programs is more effective and whether electricity from wind
power and other renewable sources should be bought as well.
Prof. Takao Kashiwagi of the Tokyo Institute of Technology, a
member of the project team, says the panel hopes to upgrade the purchase
program so as to stimulate economic activity through "local production (of
electricity) for local industry" and contribute to Japan's industrial policy
by helping high-quality facilities sell overseas.