Japan to become the world's biggest Solar Market by Revenues

Japan is a country where solar energy is flourishing because of its Government support through generous feed in subsidy. Till 2007 Japan was the leader in Solar installations, but the fierce Chinese competition and lack of Government support then, shook its position. Japan solar installation has seen a boom.

Japan’s share of global PV system revenue have shown an increase from  just 9% in 2011, to 14% in 2012 to 24% in 2013.

Big home builders like Sekisui House and West Holdings have made billion dollar investment plans to get into solar energy. Softbank already announced plans to build 10 MW solar parks all over the country. West Holdings built 250 installations with around 500 MW of capacity. The investors are pouring money into the solar farm market with a massive 400 MW plant being planned by a German firm.

Japan holds the future in Solar

 Japan gets only 2% of its energy requirements from green energy compared to around 20% for Germany. Though Japan may not be in forefront in solar installations, it is estimated to be the leader in terms of solar revenues in 2013.  However according to a report by IHS, Japan is expected to become the world’s largest solar market in terms of revenue. It is expected that Japan will install approximately US$20 billion worth of solar PV systems in 2013. Japan has already installed 1.5 GW worth of solar PV systems in Q113. Hence Japan can offer immense opportunity for the western and foreign players, who should look to build up business relations/ partnership with the local Japanese PV suppliers.

The Japanese are very particular about using their home brand. They also follow strict certification requirements, hence it will not be easy for the foreign players to enter the Japanese market. The Japanese market will also offer another market to the many suppliers who have exited the European markets, owing to the Anti-dumping proceedings there and reductions in FITs. As opposed to Europe the FITs in Japan are very attractive.

After the Fukushima disaster back in 2011, Japan has been very aggressive in its solar plans and with the Government announcing lucrative subsidy scheme for solar energy there, Japan slowly and steadily is building up a position in the solar installations.

PV Tech

“Japan’s government has introduced a highly attractive feed-in tariff to help stimulate solar growth. In contrast, the European market that historically has led global solar demand is slowing as regional market conditions become less attractive. The deceleration in Europe and the implementation of the FIT in Japan are combining to propel the country to the top of the global solar market this year.” IHS forecasts Japan will lead in revenue terms, installing US$20 billion worth of PV systems in 2013, up 82% from US$11 billion in 2012.