In common with every other PV market in the world as it matures, attaining grid parity for the technology is the ultimate goal for Japan. As an electricity market in general, meeting electrical supply with demand will of course become ever-more important.
Lichtblick, a retailer of ‘green electricity and green gas’ headquartered in Germany, is looking to take its concept for integrating multiple distributed generation sources into a single network into international markets.
The deregulated electricity market which Japan launches in April could be a long-term way for PV’s contribution to the country’s energy mix to exceed the industry and government target of 7% by 2030.
Holland’s national grid operator has said that batteries will be an “excellent alternative” to conventional power plants in providing balancing services, especially as a complement to increased solar and wind deployment.
Industry veteran Nigel Morris, chief executive at RoofJuice Australia, who has been in the solar game for more than two decades, explains how Australia reached 5GW of solar and describes some of the political challenges ahead.
Schneider Electric will provide a 1MWh energy storage system to be paired with a PV system from Duke Energy-backed REC Solar in the latest project to show how renewables-integrated microgrids can work.
Japan’s renewable energy laws are likely to result in the introduction of an auction process for large-scale solar, with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) confirming that it has put a plan for approval before the cabinet.
