Danish investment bank Obton has established a joint venture with renewables investment firm GSSG Solar to acquire a 117MW solar portfolio in Japan.
The portfolio consists of nine projects. Eight of them, with a combined capacity of 104MW, are operational, while the remaining 13MW project is under development. The operational projects were brought into production between 2017 and 2022.
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Obton said the projects are part of Japan’s feed-in tariff (FiT) programme introduced in 2012 and will provide electricity across sites located in seven prefectures.
Earlier this year, Japan announced a new FiT for commercial and industrial (C&I) and residential solar installations for 2024 and 2025. According to Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, residential solar PV systems with a capacity lower than 10kW will be awarded a FiT of JPY16 (US$0.11) per kWh in 2024 and JPY15 per kWh in 2025.
For C&I, ground-mount solar PV systems with a capacity of between 10kW and 50kW, the FiT will be JPY10 per kWh in both 2024 and 2025. For C&I rooftop solar installations, including projects that are 10kW or more but less than 50kW, as well as 50kW or more, the FiT will be JPY12 per kWh. It will drop to JPY11.5 per kWh in 2025.
PV Tech Premium also published an article written by Rystad Energy, examining the feasibility of Japan’s solar PV target by 2030. The country is targeting a 36-38% share of renewable energy in its power mix by 2030, while solar PV will have a targeted 14-16% share by 2030. In 2023, 1.1GW of new solar PV installations were added in Japan, while the total installed amount of solar PV reached 122GW, constituting 12% of Japan’s overall power mix.
The Japanese government was also urged to triple its installed renewables capacity to at least 363GW by 2035 to achieve its 2050 net zero target. Corporate renewable energy initiative RE100 called for the Japanese government to set targets in the upcoming 7th Strategic Energy Plan, which will be announced later this year. RE100 said the policy recommendations can create “an enabling environment for renewables and align Japan with its 2050 net zero target”.
