Japanese parliament passes renewable energy bill

The final hurdle in Japan’s plans to make the shift from nuclear power to renewable energy was cleared today, after the country’s upper parliament passed a bill to encourage investment in renewable resources.

As Climate Action reported earlier this week, Japan’s lower parliament formally approved the scheme on Tuesday, with the final decision being made today at the highest level. The related laws are due to come into affect in July next year.

The passing of the bill will be the final act of Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who has kept good to his word that once the bill was passed he would step down as Japan’s number one. Kan has been under increasing public pressure to do so due to his dealing of the fallout from the Fukushima disaster. However, Kan felt it his duty to ensure Japan’s future was one that would not be relying on nuclear energy.

Since March’s quake a lack of confidence from the Japanese public towards the safety of nuclear power and the atomic industry has prevented and delayed idle plants being restarted. Added to this the continually rising cost of imported oil and gas, promoting the use of renewable energy in Japan has been seen as vital.

Japanese lawmakers claim that whilst the scheme is an important step towards moving away from its reliance on nuclear power, it is still being seen as only part of the solution. From next year utility companies will be rewarded through the purchase of electricity from green energy resources at governed rates for the next two decades. Once the feed-in tariff scheme is implemented the government hopes that by the next decade the capacity of the five renewable energy types will be boosted by more than 30,000 megawatts (MW).

The passing of the bill will enable utility companies to receive guaranteed above-market rates for wind, solar and geothermal energy - a similar incentive seen in Germany and Spain saw a surge in the installation of solar panels. It is thought that Suntech Power Holdings Co. and Canadian Solar Inc. (CSIQ) have already expressed interest in investing in Japan.

Issues however are still unclear, such as the price that is to be paid for each type of renewable source by utilities - this is expected to be decided by parliament next year.