Japan toughens rules for Renewable Energy incentive payments

Just 2 years after introducing Renewable Energy incentive program, Japan is now setting stricter rules for production and sales of energy generated from renewable sources.

Reason: To speed up development of projects and ensure stable power supply.

Windmills on the tip of the Nemuro Peninsula in eastern Hokkaido. Image from The Japan Times

The new renewable rules

As in many other renewable energy projects around the world, similar projects here haven’t started even years after winning approval.

• The new rules allow utilities to strip a renewable energy provider of grid access if they miss the start date.

• The same can happen if they fail to pay for access within a month of signing a contract.

• The rule allows utilities to reduce or stop intake of renewable energy (wind and solar power) for up to 30 days a year without compensating the suppliers.  Applicable for when supply exceeds demand, this is for producers with capacity of 500 kW and above.

In essence 

Under new rules, it will apply to solar and wind projects of any size — including residential rooftops — according to a separate ministry document. In addition, the maximum period for no compensation will be calculated by hour not daily to better reflect demand and supply.

The measures come after at least five of the country’s utilities began restricting the access of new solar farms to their grids earlier this year and examined how much more clean energy their grids can add.

Grid capacity in Japan is tight and it is said that renewable energy providers will only receive grid access from a utility when they agree not to be compensated for reducing output.

The Green Mechanics: 
It seem that Japan (not only us) is also not bothered to upgrade their grid either. But some say it's more than that; a reader blamed some corrupt interested parties trying to ward off RE emergence:

"This is the corrupt Japanese electricity industry fighting against solar, duh. This is the same industry that has split Japan into two incompatible grids that creates massive overbuilding and interconnect. Nationalize the electricity industry, reorganize it into municipal control of the distribution substations and grids, and let the greater grid ISO, run a fair and open gov regulated market. The distributions substation entities then buy and sell electricity on the great grid market." - B. Donovan, REW Magazine 

Well, in order to have a better idea of what's happening there, one has to examine closer the situation in Japan. We can't read an article from one part of the globe and draw conclusion/comment/opinion.

- Source: Bloomberg via Renewable Energy World 

Japan FIT changes could see the end of Residential PV Program

Japan will announce its new FIT rates sometime in March and it will become effective April 1, 2014.

And the policy change may affect the growth of the Japanese PV market, according to Renewable Energy World (REW). To re-cap, the current support from the government on residential in terms of rebate and feed-in tariff (FIT) programs, has made Japan one of the world's top markets.


End of residential PV program?

The national residential PV subsidy program which started 20 years ago will be ended. When the program closes its door in March 2014, it is expected to have solarized over 1.5 million residential roofs, or added about 6 GW-worth of PV capacity, in Japan.

Japan's residential PV installation from 1994 - 2013. Source: REW

Japan initiated solar technology R&D and field testing under the "Sun Shine Project" in the 1970s. The Project was to bring a safe, stable energy supply to the nation. As part of the Sun Shine Project, the government launched the Residential PV System Dissemination Program in 1994.

REW reported that during the first 10 years of Japan residential PV program, it dominated the world PV market in terms of both installation and production. The average residential PV system cost was greatly reduced to ¥661 per watt even with an incentive rate of just ¥20 per watt (or 3% of the system cost)

The residential incentive was stopped in 2005 and the domestic market declined. So, in 2009 the federal government brought back the residential PV incentive program with an incentive rate of ¥70 per watt. The domestic PV market was revitalized and Japan celebrated its one million solar-roof installations in April 2012.


Focus on large non-residential segment

Japan shifted its focus from the traditional residential segment to the non-residential segment with the launch of the national FIT program in July 2012. The national government believed that deploying the larger, non-residential segment was a quick way to expand the national PV market and to catch up with Germany and Italy.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) approved close to 25 GW worth of PV systems under the FIT program between July 2012 and October 2013. Systems sized over 1 MW represented about 60% of the approved systems.

The agency mandated project status reports to FIT applicants who reserved the FY2012 FIT rate (¥42/kWh) between April 2012 and March 2013 for a system sized over 400 kW. Out of 13.3 GW (or 4,699 systems), METI found that only 8% of the FIT-approved PV capacity has become operational as of this January. In fact, 4.7 GW worth of the approved projects have neither selected a site nor placed a purchase order for the equipment.

Project Status		No. of System	GW
Operational		1,049	1.1
Withdrawn		419	0.9
Not operational	Site decided and system purchased	1,588	3.9
	Either site decided or system purchased	784	2.6
	Neither site decided nor system purchased	758	4.7
Not responded		101	0.2
Total		4,699	13.3

Table: METI Fiscal Year 2012 FIT PV Project Survey

What about delayed projects?

METI announced that it will disqualify uncommitted projects from the FIT program. For example, the projects that are categorized as "neither site decided nor system purchased" will be delisted if they fail to show proof of valid millstones by this March and the projects categories as "either side decided or system purchased" will be disqualified unless they commit both site selection and system purchase by the end of this August.

Cost of system by size: The average installed cost of systems greater than 1 MW increased to ¥305 per watt in the fourth quarter of 2013 from ¥280 per watt in the same quarter in 2012


FIT for FY2014

METI will decide on new FIT rates, which would take effect April 1, 2014. There is a rumor circulating among PV project developers that projects can be disqualified unless a system purchase or installation order is placed within six months of the date of the FIT application approval notice.

Japan is also considering toughening the FIT application approval process and imposing time restrictions to weed out bad applicants.


TheGreenMechanics' two cents:

During a recent solar PV presentation session by one of the local PV project developers/implementers, we learnt that similar cases of delayed or cancelled projects are also happening in Malaysia. If that is the case, there should be a mechanism to eradicate non-genuine applicants from the electronic balloting system.

Genuine applicants with financial capability that sit low in the pecking order (Malaysia's balloting for quota is on first-come-first-served basis) should move up priority ladder automatically as soon as the 'returned' quota is released by SEDA.

Note: This is an excerpt from a long article in REW magazine published on Feb. 20, 2014 and if you want to read the full report, you can do so here.

Japanese bra only unhooks for true love?

For those thinking this is nothing more than a goofy marketing gimmick, there is also a bit of science to it. So, with technology and innovation added in, you'd want to find out more.

Ravijour, a Japanese lingerie manufacturer has designed a bra, called the True Love Tester, that apparently knows "how women truly feel." Our Japanese friends never seem to run out of idea.

Unhooks only for true love. Watch the video here



The heart's changing pattern and the duration of the change, which the makers say will allow it to distinguish between activities as diverse as jogging and flirting.


Makers say it only unhooks for true love

In a long-awaited fusion between hot-blooded hormones and cold-headed engineering, a Japanese lingerie company has produced a bra they claim will only unlock when the wearer is really in love.

The "True Love Tester" uses sensors and a special gadget linked to a mobile device to analyse the pattern and speed of the user's heart beat in the heat of the moment.

If the app determines the woman's feelings are for real, the clasp at the front pops open to allow matters between lovers to take their course.

The bra is a gimmick by lingerie brand Ravijour, which says it is not for sale, but forms part of a publicity campaign for the marque's 10th anniversary.

"We wanted to do something that wouldn't just appeal to people who wear our products, but also to lift the romantic mood between men and women," spokeswoman Yuka Tamura said.

In a promotional video, viewers are shown how the glittering gold lame bra conceals sensors placed inside the cup, which send wireless signals to a smartphone.

The app studies the heart's changing pattern and the duration of the change, which the makers say will allow it to distinguish between activities as diverse as jogging and flirting, where a woman's requirements of her bra are quite distinct.

In a promotional video clip, a toned model stands in a dimly lit studio wearing only her underwear, which keeps the insistent alpha male at bay because he cannot unhook the clasp.

Source: AFP via Yahoo news

Cultivate crops and build solar PV on the same farmland

You may have ran out of space (or land) for installing solar PV and you don't want to mess up your roof with the heavy PV modules, but that should not deter you from finding ways to take part in the renewable energy initiative by the government.

So, you started to innovate.

Take a look at this efforts by Japanese farmers. They mixed solar farming with cash crop farming. They keep the traditional farming on their agricultural lands but at the same time reap the benefit via Feed-in Tariff mechanism for generating electricity from solar.



Makoto Takazawa owns a 34.8kW 'solar sharing' farmland in Chiba Prefecture. Photo via REW


How did the 'solar sharing' concept started

Akira Nagashima, a retired engineer, studied and found that the rate of photosynthesis increases as the irradiance level is increased; however at one point, any further increase in the amount of light that strikes the plant does not cause any increase to the rate of photosynthesis.

By knowing that too much sun won’t help further growth of plants, Nagashima came up with the idea to combine PV systems and farming. He devised and originally patented special structure, which is much like a pergola (shaded walkway) in a garden.

He created a couple of testing fields with different shading rates and different crops. The structures he created are made of pipes and rows of PV panels, which are arranged with certain intervals to allow enough sunlight to hit the ground for photosynthesis.



The concept of co-existing farmland and solar PV was first developed by a retired engineer, Akira Nagashima. Photo via REW



Takazawa's solar sharing farm. Photo via REW


Installation cost and FiT rate

In the case of Makoto Takazawa (the first picture above) the cost of the system producing 35,000 kWh annually is about ¥12.6 million (around $126,000). Having secured the first available FIT rate of ¥42/kWh for 20 years, he will earn ¥1.6 million (around $16,000) annually while only making ¥100,000 (around $1,000) annually from farming.

Converted to Malaysian Ringgit, that would be about RM392,000 in installation cost. FiT rate is around RM1.308/kWh and he gets RM49,800 annually from this venture.

Reference and source: REW


TheGreenMechanics: Living in the countryside isn't a bad idea. I wouldn't mind spending my retirement years that way.

Greenhouse PV Demonstration Project launched in Fukushima farmland

The "Greenhouse PV Demonstration Project" in Fukushima is a project to test how much impact the shading caused by the solar panels affects the growth of the fruit and vegetables inside the greenhouse.


Demonstration project on agricultural greenhouse solar PV. Photo: solar-frontier


Solar Frontier tests solar greenhouse

Fukushima, the name synonymous with 2011's Japanese tsunami and subsequent nuclear accident,  is an area of Japan that has been treated with so much care since the disaster two years ago.

It is no surprise then that the Japanese government is much effort in providing power supply from other sources. So, as part of the economic recovery efforts, solar panels have been fitted to an agricultural greenhouse for a demonstration project in Minamisoma, Fukushima.

The project, by companies including Japanese panel maker Solar Frontier and German EPC Belectric, in cooperation with the local prefectural government of Fukushima, sees installation of 324 Solar Frontier panels with 50kW total rated capacity covering 1,300m² of roof space on an agricultural greenhouse.

The results of the project are due to be reported in January, 2014, to determine impacts of shadows from solar panels on high value greenhouse products.


TheGreenMechanics: Would be good to test this solar PV shading on our paddy field and see if there is much impact on the amount of rice produced as a result. At the same time, free electricity from the farm. Sounds good, eh?

Source: Solar Frontier website

Japan's largest solar PV plant goes online in Kagoshima

Although Japan has now passed the 10 GW in cumulative solar PV installation, more than half of the installed capacity  is on residential rooftops.

The largest single solar farm in Japan is currently the one in the southern city of Kagoshima. It has just been brought online this week according to pv-magazine.


Kagoshima Mega-solar power plant. Photo by SMA


Japan’s largest PV power plant  in Kagoshima

The 70 MW PV plant is run and owned by local utility provider, the Kagoshima Mega Solar Power Corporation, and relies on system technology provided by Germany’s SMA.

SMA has provided 140 Sunny Central 500CP-JP central inverters, and 1,260 Sunny String-Monitors for the plant, which is now the largest single solar farm in Japan.

SMA has established a keen presence in Japan in recent years, setting up a sales and service company in Tokyo and having its Sunny Boy inverters certified by the Japan Electrical Safety & Environment Technology Laboratories (JET) for use in rooftop arrays for the Japanese market.

Even though JET certification is not required for central inverters used on industrial-scale solar projects, SMA felt compelled to ensure that its Sunny Boy technology would be able to withstand the multitude of adverse weather conditions that panels in southern Japan can sometimes be subjected to – conditions including typhoons, high humidity and salty air.

Source: pv-magazine

TheGreenMechanics: With rapid growth of solar PV industry there, Japan is thought to be the new Germany in renewable energy sector, particularly solar.

It will come as no surprise if Japan can quickly fill the gap left behind by the subsequent shutting down of nuclear power plants in response to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

Malaysia launched $100mil (RM320 mil) green fund for South East Asia

Malaysia and Japan-based Asian Energy Investments Pte Ltd (AEI) have launched a US$100 million venture capital fund to invest in clean energy projects in South East Asia.


Malaysia-Japan partnership in venture capital fund raising


Green bank for South East Asia

Focusing on investments in small-to-mid-sized technologies and enterprises, a management company to be established called Putra Eco Ventures, will channel the investments and provide business consultancy services to green technology companies - such as wind, solar or tidal energy.

The announcement comes a little over a week after New York City launched its own US$1 billion green bank and in the wake of the new Australian government's decision to scrap its own green bank, the US$2 billion-a-year Clean Energy Finance Corporation.

Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak announced the launch of the fund on Monday at a meeting of sustainable development experts in San Francisco in the United States.

It will also help find cheaper biodiesel feedstocks for Malaysian biodiesel plants which have been idled because they rely on expensive crude palm oil.

This we hope, will further transform Malaysia into a knowledge-based, innovation-driven economy that is environmentally friendly while aiming to join the ranks of developed nations.

Malaysia aims to reduce its carbon emissions by 40% by 2020 from 2005 levels and increase its renewable energy capacity to 4,000 MW by 2030.


TheGreenMechanics: More options  should now be available for the small and medium-sized enterprises to venture into sustainable energy business.


Source: Malaysian Times

Personal-sized hydroelectric power generator you can bring anywhere

This invention reminds me of the small gasoline generator we used when spending a weekend at one of the electricity-deprived areas in Sabah.

Speaking of creativity, you can turn water into food, weapon, house, or you can turn a falling water into electricity. One such creative use of  falling water is the following small-sized hydroelectric power generator.

Powered purely by water, this generator can produce about half the power of what your typical 600W gasoline generator is capable of.

Cappa, the 250W generator, is ideal for mobile applications

The concept behind the blade

The developer, Ibasei shows how the ultra small hydroelectric generator is placed in a small stream

As long as rainfall continue to fill streams and rivers, water can be a renewable source of energy.


Compact hydropower generator

Japanese company Ibasei has unveiled a new idea in hydroelectricity generation; a turbine that can be placed in virtually any fast moving stream or river to generate small amounts of electricity for immediate use or as a charging station. Called the Cappa, it resembles an engine on a jet aircraft and can be easily placed into a location in just minutes.

The idea behind the Cappa is that not all hydroelectric systems need to be huge, and they don't have to plug a river or be situated at an optimal location either. Instead, any spot where the river narrows causing swift movement of the water can be used.

The Cappa is put in place by fashioning a couple of spans of some sort across the river or stream to form bridges. The turbine is then lowered into the water and held in place by the frame resting on the span. Once in the water, the Cappa goes to work without any further ado.

For water running at 2 m/s the turbine will generate about 250 W of electricity. Placing five of them in a stream could conceivably produce up to a 1 kW (allowing for control losses). To increase the efficiency of the turbine, engineers have tailored a diffuser that causes water flowing over the blades to move faster.


Suitable applications

The Cappa was developed for a variety of purposes, from use as in-place generators at outdoor parks to emergency backup systems, particularly in the event of a flood. It can also be used as an alternative to gas powered generators that people use when the electricity goes out.


TheGreenMechanics' two cents:

This is essentially a venturi tube with a propeller in its' throat. With a design like that, it is easy to duplicate at a much lower cost. Add a mesh screen on the front of it and you would take care of the debris that could have surely hit the blades.

The downside, however, is that at a price of a compact car, (say, Myvi @RM35,000 or US$11,000) many would give this a pass. 'Tree huggers' would love it but the cost would be too prohibitive.

Kudos to a bright idea though, it opens up a lot of possibility for the folks in the interior.


Reference: diginfo.tv

The Miracle Pine in Japan

While flying on Malaysia Airlines today, I saw this on its inflight magazine and I thought it's worth sharing. I have little doubt that, if we have one here, it would definitely be a popular spot for the superstitious four-digit punters.


The Miracle Pine. Image: Malaysia Airlines - Going Places


Proud Pine

Of the 70,000 trees that once stood in the old forest of Rikuzentakata in the Iwaya Prefecture of Honshu, only one was left standing after the earthquake of Mar 2011. The sole survivor was nicknamed the 'Miracle Pine', though it succumbed to toxic salinity levels deposited in the soil a year later.

But now it has risen again anew, in the form of a sculpture - the Miracle Pine Project - marking the second anniversary of the disaster.

Using plastic moulds of the pine tree's trunk and branches, and steel needles for the leaves, the 1.4 tonne sculpture is anchored exactly where the original tree stood, which during its life survived not just one, but three devastating tsunamis.


Reference: MAS Going Places - June 2013

Japan PV manufacturers turning to domestic market

In 2005, Japanese PV makers dominated global PV production — Sharp, Kyocera, Sanyo (now part of Panasonic) and Mitsubishi Electric represented about 50% of global production.

When German and other European markets expanded quickly, a great number of companies in Europe and Asia, specifically China, jumped into the “potentially” profitable PV industry. They rapidly ramped up their production and brought down costs, leaving Japanese companies behind.

But when the Japanese government decided to pump life into the lagging domestic PV market, it created a generous feed-in tariff (FIT) program. Japanese manufacturers began enjoying full access to the lucrative domestic market and started to see the improvements in their bottom lines.


Domestic Market Focus

Japanese manufacturers were export-oriented due to the better profit margin they could earn in German and other European markets. However, that trend is now over, as illustrated in the following histogram:


At 1Q’13, Japanese PV makers kept 90% of what they produced in the domestic market, compared to just about 30% at 1Q’09. Source: REW


PV Module Technology

The PV technology mix in Japan is changing. Domestic manufacturers largely produced poly-crystalline silicon (poly-si) technology, so it dominated the market. However, the Net FIT for the residential market revitalized the domestic market.

Since then, the demand for high-efficiency or mono-crystalline silicon (mono-si) modules has gained popularity among homeowners who want to maximize energy production on their space-limited roofs.


Expanding their products and services

Japan PV manufacturers are expanding their product and service offerings and strengthening their domestic networks against foreign PV markets, which now accounts for more than 30% of the domestic market.

Kyocera, Sharp and Solar Frontier have moved beyond “module only provider,” by vertically expanding into the downstream solar value chain, as an EPC contractor, project developer and independent power producer.

Solar Frontier have developed around around 100 MW worth of medium-scale PV in Japan. Last year, Kyocera joined forces with IHI Corp. and Mizuho Corporate Bank to construct one of a 70-MW PV project, the nation’s largest, in Kagoshima Prefecture.

Kyocera, Sharp and Panasonic all have started selling lithium-ion storage batteries with PV systems for the residential segment in order to offer the complete packaged solution to “create, store and control energy.”

Source: REW

Huge wind turbine snaps in Kyoto, Japan

While it's not extremely rare for such occurrence to happen, you could not help but think about the possibility of lack of maintenance here.

The more wind farms you open up, the higher the chances of failure to happen simply due to the number of wind turbines you erect. Even in Japan where nano-precision and high-technology are daily words and the maintenance mentality is respectable, you can hear that the Fukushima nuclear facilities could have been better maintained.

A windmill lies wrecked in the town of Ine. Photo by AFP/The Japan Times

Anyway, here's what was reported by The Japan Times:

Kyoto wind farm turbine falls after pylon snaps
Mar 16, 2013
A 38-ton wind turbine crashed 50 meters to the ground in Kyoto Prefecture after the steel column supporting it snapped, according to officials.

The massive Dutch-made turbine, which sat atop a Japanese-made steel column, was part of a mountain wind farm. It was put up in 2001 with an expected life of at least 17 years.

“We are asking experts to look into the cause of the problem. We suspect metal fatigue might have played a role,” a local government official said Thursday, adding no one was injured.

The smashed turbine was discovered Wednesday although it is not known when it fell at the remote facility. A strong windstorm struck wide areas of the nation around that time.

Wind farms have sprouted across large stretches of Japan over the last two decades as the resource-poor country seeks to capitalize on its natural bounty.

The drive for alternative energy has intensified since the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster started two years ago.

Only two of Japan’s 50 nuclear reactors are in operation and public opposition against restarting reactors remains strong.

World's first deodorant underwear: Deoest

The days of the embarrassing gas passing in public is numbered, so we hope.

Not really a 'first' as smell-neutralising undergarments have been around for a while now, but this one is claimed to be the best yet at doing the task. This should be good news to people with issues of unwelcomed odours - flatulence, feet smell, sweaty armpits, old age smell, etc.


Deoest underpants made in Japan. Image from www.deoest.jp


Underpants which are claimed to neutralise the smell of flatulence are proving a hit in Japan, whose hard-working businessmen seem to like the idea of breaking wind without getting rumbled.

A Japanese textile company has developed a range of underwear which it says prevent unwelcome odours.

"It took us a few years to develop the first deodorant pants that are comfortable enough to wear in daily life but efficient in quickly eliminating strong smells," said Nami Yoshida, a spokeswoman for the company, Seiren.

"At first we thought about selling them to those who require nursing care and to hospitals.

"But to our surprise, lots of ordinary people, like businessmen who are in positions that require them to see people on a daily basis, bought them," she said. The underwear is manufactured with whiff-absorbing ceramic particles in the material fibres.

Seiren developed the technology after being contacted by a doctor who wanted something to disguise the regular parps emitted by people suffering from irritable bowel syndrome. The company's range has now expanded to 22 items, including socks that prevent feet from smelling and t-shirts that mask the odour of sweaty armpits. - AFP


Inodore explains how the revolutionary fabric works.

Japan to phase out nuclear energy by 2040

Wise move by Japan

On September 14, 2012, Japan announced that it too would phase out nuclear power generation by 2040 and would further develop renewable sources.

There are more than 50 nuclear plants in Japan. Graphic by AFP

World's biggest nuclear power producers

Japan trails only the United States and France in nuclear power generation capacity, and replacing the country’s 49,000-megawatt nuclear generating capacity could mean a big boost for both green energy and natural gas suppliers. A possible downside is that Japan would increase imports of crude oil, which it also has been burning to generate electricity to replace production from Fukushima.

According to the Financial Times, Japan’s remaining 50 nuclear plants will be shut down once they reach an operating lifetime of 40 years and no new nukes will be constructed. The last plants were built in 2006.

Japan’s nuclear plants provided about 30% of the country’s electricity and the country had planned to raise that to 50% by 2030. Today only one of the country’s nukes is still in operation and the rest were not restarted following shutdowns for safety inspections. That was not because the plants failed the inspections, but because the government responded to public demands to keep the nukes closed.


Positive impact on Japan's energy alternatives

Japan is the world’s largest importer of natural gas, virtually all of it in the form of liquid natural gas (LNG.) The large LNG projects in the Middle East, South Asia and Australia have already gotten a boost, and that boost will last longer and may get larger for big LNG producers like Shell, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips.

Japan currently has about 7% of the world’s total solar power capacity, and most analysts expect that number to rise significantly. Japan boosted its feed-in tariffs for solar power to $0.53 per kilowatt-hour in June over a period lasting for the next 20 years.

Japan’s Sharp is the world’s largest producer of solar PV panels, and with Kyocera poses a significant obstacle to foreign solar makers like First Solar and SunPower.


Wiser? While Malaysia plan to build, but Japan is shutting down

Malaysia, through MNPC (Malaysia Nuclear Power Corporation) is said to be preparing a Nuclear Power Infrastructure Development Plan by 2013 to deliver Malaysia’s first nuclear power plant by 2021.

Earlier this year, MNPC and TNB revealed that the Nuclear Power Plant project has tiptoed to an advanced stage of development and that the final decision to “go nuclear” would be made next year or in 2014.

Nuclear power program in Malaysia - snapshot of IAEA's presentation

Why oh why, Malaysia?

Malaysia's plan to go nuclear is of great concern because Japan and France - the two supporters of nuclear energy - apparently have made major decisions to back away from reliance on nuclear power.

Germany announced earlier, after last year's disaster at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, that it would abandon nuclear power generation by 2022. So, it is very wrong for Malaysia to go the opposite direction. It does have many other alternatives other than nuclear.

Come on!