Japan’s feed-in tariff launched in 2012 set an unusually high solar purchase price, triggering a speculative boom. This analysis details grid instability, higher electricity bills and taxes, environmental damage, and the media’s uncritical amplification of political claims.

2016-03-16

What follows is a continuation of the previous chapter.

Asahi, Too, Recklessly Broadcasts Loose Talk

In Japan, former Prime Minister 菅直人 vigorously promoted the feed-in tariff system for renewable energy, which began in July 2012.

By accepting wholesale the prices insisted upon by representatives of telecommunications companies and others, Mr. Kan set the solar power purchase price at 42 yen—roughly double the international market level.

Because the feed-in tariff guarantees that electricity will be purchased at the same price for ten years for residential systems and twenty years for industrial systems from the year of installation, it became an “absolutely risk-free business.”
Solar panels were built one after another across the country, creating a “solar bubble.”

As a result, the power grid (transmission lines) became unstable, raising the risk of large-scale blackouts, and limits were imposed on purchase volumes.

In 2014, Kyushu Electric Power, followed by utilities in Hokkaido, Tohoku, Shikoku, and Okinawa, fell into a situation in which they postponed responses to new grid-connection applications from renewable energy producers.

At present, Japan’s contracted solar capacity alone amounts to 1.5 times the total installed capacity of all nuclear power plants in the country.

In other words, this is Germany’s mistake repeated.

While this may benefit companies capable of investing in solar panels and wind farms, ordinary consumers bear the burden through higher taxes and electricity bills.

High electricity prices are borne by consumers, and subsidies for solar power are paid with tax revenue.
Ultimately, the public pays the entire bill.

Driven by the solar bubble, forests have been cut down one after another.
According to The Japan Agricultural News (February 26, 2015), “Without obtaining the consent of forest owners, private operators planning power generation cut down trees over an area of about 8,700 square meters. Thirteen owners have filed claims for damages, but the disputes remain unresolved. An elderly female farmer in her eighties said, ‘The renewable energy boom is targeting rural forests. This could happen anywhere in the country.’”

While some media outlets have sounded alarms, major media have barely reported it.

Worse still, articles such as “Nine full years after leaving office, what was felt from the interview with former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was his strong desire to realize a ‘zero nuclear power’ society” (Asahi Shimbun, September 13, 2015) simply relay Mr. Koizumi’s off-the-cuff remarks without criticism.

The responsibility of the major media is therefore extremely serious.

To be continued.