Latest news with #StrategicEnergyPlan
Yomiuri Shimbun
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Solar Power Generation: Promote Consolidation of Businesses into Superior Operators
The government has begun to reorganize the huge crowd of solar power generation operators. It is important to consolidate these businesses into major operators that local residents can trust in terms of safety measures, and to steadily promote decarbonization. In 2012, after the Great East Japan Earthquake, the government launched a system to purchase electricity produced with renewable energy sources, including solar power, at high prices. Electricity generated by operators is purchased at fixed prices for 20 years from the start of generation, in principle. The initial price was as high as ¥40 per kilowatt-hour, four times the current price, which prompted many small-scale operators to enter the market. As a result, many operators in Japan have installed solar panels on areas about the size of a tennis court. The purchases at high prices will gradually come to an end from fiscal 2032 onward. There are concerns that this will lead to a string of unprofitable operators withdrawing from the market, leaving their equipment unattended. There have already been a number of cases of broken panels being abandoned in various parts of the country. It has been pointed out that solar power plants built in mountainous areas are at risk of causing landslides. Such a situation must be prevented. To deal with such cases, the government introduced a system in April to certify as 'qualified' large-scale operators that meet certain requirements — such as having a power generation capacity of 50,000 kilowatts or more — and give them preferential treatment in taking over the operations of other businesses. Under the new system, qualified operators are exempt from the briefing sessions with local governments that are required when taking over a business. Instead, they only have to announce the progress of the business on their own websites, among other things. In addition, the requirement that an engineer arrive within two hours in the event of equipment failure has also been relaxed. Based on the new system, Kyushu Railway Co. plans to team up with Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking and other entities to purchase small- and medium-scale solar power generation facilities in Kyushu. It is hoped that such moves will become more common. In its Strategic Energy Plan formulated this year, the government aims to increase the share of solar power generation in the power supply mix to 23%-29% in fiscal 2040 from 9.8% in fiscal 2023. However, the hurdles to achieving this goal are high, as the land suitable for solar power generation in Japan is decreasing year by year. It will be necessary to utilize suitable land without neglecting it. It is also vital for the government to strictly certify qualified operators. There is no end to the problems with local residents caused by the abandonment of solar panels. Major operators who take over a business also bear a heavy responsibility. They will be required to continue long-term, stable operations with constant efforts to establish relations of trust with local residents. (From The Yomiuri Shimbun, May 28, 2025)
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
UN watchdog chief visits Fukushima as Japan returns to nuclear power
The UN nuclear watchdog chief visited Japan's stricken Fukushima plant on Wednesday, the day after Tokyo approved an energy plan that marks a return to nuclear power to meet growing demand for AI. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is monitoring Japan's efforts to decommission the Fukushima Daiichi plant after a 2011 earthquake-triggered tsunami killed 18,000 people and set off the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. As IAEA head Rafael Grossi arrived in Japan on Tuesday, the cabinet adopted a plan to increase reliance on nuclear power to help meet growing energy demand from artificial intelligence and microchip factories. "At a moment where Japan is embarking on a gradual return to nuclear energy in its national energy mix, it is important that this is also done in complete safety and with the confidence of the society," Grossi said after meeting the foreign minister. Japan had previously vowed to "reduce reliance on nuclear power as much as possible". But this pledge was dropped from the latest Strategic Energy Plan -- which includes an intention to make renewables the country's top power source by 2040. Under the plan, nuclear power will account for around 20 percent of Japan's energy supply by 2040, up from 5.6 percent in 2022. The return to nuclear comes as the country is decommissioning Fukushima Daiichi, a process expected to take decades with the most dangerous part still ahead: removing around 880 tonnes of radioactive debris from the reactors. Grossi, making his fifth visit to Fukushima, viewed the vast "interim" soil storage facilities near the plant for the first time. Around 13 million cubic metres of soil and 300,000 cubic metres of ash from incinerated organic material -- enough to fill 10 stadiums -- were scraped from land in the region to remove harmful radiation. On Wednesday, trucks and construction vehicles went back and forth between several areas where hundreds of large soil-filled black bags were stacked, some covered by a thin layer of snow. Hanging on a locked fence around the storage site was a sign displaying the radiation level. - Seafood bans - Japan plans to recycle roughly 75 percent of the soil -- the portion with low radioactivity -- for building projects such as road and railway embankments. The remaining material will be disposed of outside the Fukushima region ahead of a 2045 deadline. Stripping topsoil was "very effective" to decontaminate land close to waterways, said Olivier Evrard, research director at France's Atomic Energy Commission. But the operation was expensive, "generated a massive amount of waste and still poses fertility issues" for agriculture, he told AFP. It stands in contrast to the decision to fence off a large area after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and more or less "leave it to wildlife", Evrard said. Experts from the IAEA and countries including China and South Korea will also take new seawater and fish samples from Fukushima on Wednesday. Plant operator TEPCO began discharging 1.3 million tonnes of groundwater, seawater and rainwater, along with water used for cooling the reactors, into the sea in 2023. The water release is endorsed by the IAEA and TEPCO says all radioactive elements have been filtered out except for tritium, levels of which are within safe limits. However, countries including China and Russia have criticised the release and banned Japanese seafood imports. China said in September it would "gradually resume" importing seafood from Japan but this has yet to begin. cg-kaf-tmo/lb
