On paper, the numbers are impressive. Japan’s 7th Basic Energy Plan targets around 21 GW of BESS by 2040. Already, 2.5 GW (derated) have secured contracts through the first two LTDA auctions, and although another 5.6 GW didn’t win in the second round, interest remains high — with around 95 GW of projects having applied […]

On January 17th, METI released the details of its 101th procurement price calculation committee. One major proposed change is to temporarily increase the balancing subsidy included into the Feed-in-Premium payments of qualifying solar PV and wind assets by 1¥/kWh for FY2025 and a yet to be determined value untile at least FY2028. Assets that qualified

On Tuesday, August 17th, METI released the first draft of its 7th Basic Energy Plan. While the plan itself is significant, the accompanying cost projections for power generation and grid integration across various technologies stand out as particularly noteworthy. One key takeaway is the impact of grid integration costs on renewable energy. When factoring in

The Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) is taking proactive steps to address rising concerns that offshore wind projects in Japan might struggle to move forward due to increasing costs. Recognizing the financial pressures, METI is considering adjustments to its auction system for designated offshore wind zones. Under the proposed changes, the bidding price

This Week the Japan photovoltaic Energy Association and the Japan Wind Power association reported to METI on the status of their respective industry, with a focus on current development and generation costs. Without much surprise both industries are reporting rising costs, moving further away from METI’s LCOE targets. METI had been expected PV to generate

METI has been discussing a merging of the JEPX and balancing markets for over a year. It has now released an interim report on the progress of these discussions. The new simultaneous market would start in FY2028 and would enable the simultaneous trading of both reserve capacity (kW) and energy (kWh). Generators, retailers and grid

In February 2024 Japan added Uranium to its list of Critical Minerals. The question is not so much why Japan did so, but rather why all the other nuclear countries did not follow in its path. Canada already had Uranium on its list, and in July the French Senate published a report on Electricity production

The recent auction for 107MW of PV capacity saw only 33.6MW awarded, signaling an undersubscription. Amongst the winners of the 22 projects are Renewable Japan, Hexa, Trina and Daiwa House. The bids went from 5¥/kWh to 9.13¥/kWh. Of the 22 projects, only one is to be connected to the SHV grid with a capacity of

On August 7th, METI announced potential adjustments to curtailment rules for renewable assets under FIT and FIP programs. Starting FY2026, curtailment would apply first to FIT assets over FIP assets, specifically for PV, Wind, and Biomass. This shift could lead to higher curtailment rates for FIT assets, with the savings redirected to FIP assets through