Japan moves up Ernst & Young's green index on FiT launch

Sep 6, 2012 - Thanks to the launch of appealing feed-in tariffs (FiTs) for renewable power, Japan climbed to ninth from 10th position in the August 2012 issue of US audit and consultancy company Ernst & Young's "all renewables" index.

The country also moved up by one spot to 16th and fifth place in the wind and solar indices, respectively.

The introduction of the FiTs, which are as high as JPY 42 (USD 0.54/EUR 0.42) per kWh of solar power and between JPY 23.1 and JPY 57.75 per kWh of wind, is in line with government efforts to cut Japan's dependence on nuclear energy following the March 2011 Fukushima disaster.

The attractive FiTs, which apply from July 2012 to end-March 2013, are expected to lead to a boom in renewable energy investment. Their major goal is to boost Japan's renewable energy capacity by 2.5 GW through March. "The real question is whether policy-makers will be able to avoid the ‘boom-bust’ impact of generous incentives witnesses elsewhere across renewables markets," Ernst & Young says in the indices issue.

Japan has also taken other steps to promote green investment. It relaxed certain rules on the construction of geothermal power plants in national parks and eased regulations on land use for solar and wind farms. The government is also investing in energy storage.

(JPY 100 = USD 1.274/EUR 1.010)

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