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Japan passes legislation for renewable energy feed-in-tariffs

Japan passes legislation for renewable energy feed-in-tariffs Worker at Japanese geothermal power plant, snapshot from AlJazeera Video (source: AlJazeera/ YouTube)
Alexander Richter 30 Aug 2011

Japan passes legislation for renewable energy feed-in-tariffs for wind, biomass, geothermal and small hydroelectric generation. Details, such as pricing will be determined by a special parliamentary committee.

Last week, “Japan’s upper house of parliament passed a bill to create a series of feed-in tariffs for renewable energy generation in the nation.

The law will go into effect in July 2012, and the bill includes a target of 30 GW of renewable energy development within the next decade.

“The move has global implications, as the world’s third largest economy follows that of the world’s second-largest economy, China, and the world’s fourth-largest economy, Germany, in implementing feed-in tariffs in order to rapidly develop renewable energy,” states feed-in tariff expert Paul Gipe of Wind-Works.

“The new law is also a clear sign that Japan plans to reduce its reliance on nuclear power, after the disaster at Tokyo Electric Power’s Fukushima 1 plant.”

The bill had previously passed Japan’s lower house of parliament on August 23rd, 2011. The feed-in tariffs include a contract term of 20 years, and will cover solar photovoltaic (PV), wind, biomass, geothermal and small hydroelectric generation.

The tariffs will utilize cost recovery from utility ratepayers, with a reduction for heavy industrial users. The program will be reviewed every three years.

The law will create a special parliamentary committee to determine details of the program, including setting specific tariffs.”

Source: Solar Server