This section analyzes Japan’s feed-in tariff policy, the resulting solar power bubble, and how excessive deployment destabilized the power grid, ultimately forcing limits on electricity purchases to prevent large-scale blackouts.

2016-03-16

In Japan, former Prime Minister Naoto Kan aggressively promoted the full feed-in tariff system for renewable energy, which began in July 2012.
By accepting without question the prices demanded by representatives of telecommunications companies and others, a purchase price of 42 yen—twice the international market rate—was established for solar power.
Because the feed-in tariff guarantees that electricity companies must purchase power at the same price for ten years for residential systems and twenty years for industrial systems from the year of installation, it became a business that could “never lose,” leading to the rapid construction of solar panels across the country and the emergence of a “solar bubble.”
As a result, the electric grid became unstable, increasing the risk of large-scale blackouts, and an upper limit was imposed on the amount of electricity that could be purchased.
To be continued.