Japan's wind power companies hope a new law approved in the wake of the country's nuclear disaster will be a big boost for a sector which for now holds only a tiny share of the energy mix, but they are waiting to see details before they start cheering.
Japan
's
wind power companies hope a new law approved in the wake of the country's
nuclear disaster will be a big boost for a sector which for now holds only a
tiny share of the energy mix, but they are waiting to see details before they
start cheering.
Last month
Japan
's
Diet passed a renewables law obliging the 10 regional power utilities to buy
all the electricity offered to them by wind, solar or biomass operators at
fixed prices from July 2012, but key details like the level of feed-in tariffs
and their duration are not yet set.
"It is a step forward," said Tetsuro Nagata, the president of Eurus
Energy Holdings Corp.,
Japan
's
largest wind power company by capacity, adding "we need at least Y20 per
kilowatt-hour."
Expectations for "a wind-power Big Bang" had risen since the
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power incident in March, and Eurus had been
approached by many wind power equipment makers seeking new orders, Nagata said.
Before the disaster, renewable energy, excluding hydro power, provided just 1%
or the electricity used in
Japan
, the
Federation of Electric Power Companies of
Japan
says,
with wind's share just 0.4%.
That's due to the relatively high cost of renewable energy and because tough
planning regulations and high land costs have been a disincentive onshore while
extreme weather conditions in some areas have discouraged offshore wind farm
development.
By contrast, 30% came from the 54 reactors in
Japan
's
nuclear fleet, only 11 of which are now on-line, while gas, coal, hydro and oil
accounted for 30%, 25%, 8% and 6%, respectively.
Eurus is a unit of Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501.TO), the owner of the damaged
reactor complex.
While Tepco now faces huge challenges on many fronts including finance, this
won't stymie future wind farm development, because Eurus funds its projects via
project financing.
Also, Nagata said, Eurus more than doubled its capital in early 2010 to Y40
billion, funds it can use to buy stakes in projects.
Eurus has around 527 megawatts of
Japan
wind power
projects in operation, complemented by 820 MW in
Europe
and
632 MW in the
US
,
according to its website.
Key to the law's success is if feed-in tariffs are set high enough to prompt
investment, said Satoshi Waseda, an analyst with Mitsubishi Research Institute.
About 200 companies in
Japan
have
wind farms or are developing them, although nearly of them are very-small
scale, with less than five turbines. Electric Power Development Co. (9513.TO),
or J-Power, is
Japan
's
second largest wind power company by capacity.
Διαβάστε ακόμα
Τρι, 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 19:58
Τρι, 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 19:54
Τετ, 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 18:32
Τετ, 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 18:27
Τρι, 17 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 20:01