Developers rush to be Japan's first new renewable players

On June 18, 2012, Yukio Edano, the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) accepted the recommendation of an advisory committee on the new renewable energy industry and adopted a comprehensive system of feed-in tariffs in order to put Japan on the path to a more sustainable energy mix.

As the move had been widely expected following the adoption of the Renewable Energy Act (REA) (effective July 1, 2012), numerous Japanese companies have been positioning themselves to take advantage of the unusually generous rates.

Launch of feed-in tariff raises expectations for Japan’s PV market

The start of the new scheme--the ‘Renewable Energy Bill’ (‘Bill on Special Measures for the Procurement of Renewable Energy Electricity by Electric Utilities’) which was passed into law in the Diet on August 26, 2011 and scheduled to be enforced in July 2012─is going to pave the way to large-scale photovoltaics. Most of the past construction projects of mega solar power stations were of electric utilities, but in response to the anticipated launch of the FiT scheme, multiple mega solar projects had been already reported before the bill was passed.

Indonesia: Govt considers new renewable energy policy

The government is mulling over a policy that, if taken forward, will require large energy consumers, including mining, oil and gas companies, to partly use renewable energy sources to boost efficiency in energy consumption.

The planned policy is not aimed at limiting the energy consumption of such companies, but rather at better managing the sustainability of future energy demands, according to the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry’s director general of renewable energy and energy conservation, Kardaya Warnika.