TOKYO --
Japan plans to reduce incentives for solar power and introduce a
higher tariff for offshore wind than onshore turbines to encourage
installations. The offshore wind tariff would be set at 36 yen (35 cents) a
kilowatt-hour for 20 years, according to a report by a panel advising
the trade ministry. Onshore wind would get a separate rate, of 22 yen,
unchanged from fiscal 2013.
The solar tariff would decline 11 percent to
32 yen. Wind-turbine makers such as Mitsubishi Heavy
Industries Ltd. and Vestas Wind Systems A/S as well as construction
companies such as Kajima Corp. may benefit from the new tariff in a
country that lacks open land for onshore installations. Japan has just
40 megawatts of offshore capacity compared with 3,689 megawatts in the
U.K. and 1,272 megawatts in Denmark, according to data compiled by
Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
The suggested offshore wind tariff is “surprisingly
low,” said Takehiro Kawahara, a BNEF analyst. “The rate is lower than
the estimated levelized cost of electricity of 45 yen per kilowatt hour
for offshore wind in Japan, hence unlikely to speed up project
development.”
The recommended tariffs require approval by Trade
Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and would affect applications from April 1.
Sales tax, which will be raised from 5 percent to 8 percent from that
date, will be added to all tariffs.
Small Hydropower
Since the country introduced the feed-in tariff
subsidy in July 2012, most new capacity has been solar. It’s now
possible to reduce incentives as the efficiency of solar panels improve,
according to the report released today by the five-member panel led by
Kazuhiro Ueta, a professor of environmental economics at Kyoto
University.
As for small hydropower, the panel proposed setting
rates of 14 yen to 34 yen per kilowatt-hour for 20 years depending on
the size of the project and whether it will use existing waterways. The
group also suggested keeping tariffs for geothermal and biomass power
unchanged.
Japan, seeking to become a leader in floating offshore
wind technology, is conducting pilot projects in Fukushima and
Nagasaki. The Fukushima project, which began with a 2 megawatt turbine
last year near the site of a nuclear disaster in 2011, plans to add two
more with 7 megawatts of capacity each.
Copyright 2014 Bloomberg
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2014/03/japan-may-set-higher-offshore-wind-subsidy-reduce-solar-tariff
No comments:
Post a Comment