India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is set to launch a highly ambitious plan to facilitate 23GW of grid-connected solar PV projects in Ladakh in the state of Jammu & Kashmir, which is a mountainous desert region in the far north of India.
IPP Sonnedix, operating via its Japanese operator, Nippon Solar Services (NSS) has closed financing and selected an EPC contractor for its 30MW Miyako-based 'mega solar' PV plant in Iwate Prefecture.
Another large-scale solar PV plant has been completed on a former golf course in Japan, a 51MW project built by financial services company Orix Corporation.
Japan's government has given its clearest indication to date of planned rule changes around renewable energy policy, including official confirmation that a tender process is being put before its parliament for the 2017 financial year.
After Japan’s solar market got off to a flying start, a combination of policy headwinds and grid constraints has made the going much tougher. But with new market segments opening up and an electricity market reform process about to get underway the prospects for the world’s second largest PV market of 2015 still look strong.
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.
Solar Frontier believes it could make some of Japan’s as-yet-unbuilt utility-scale solar projects economically viable, as the company’s partnership with Goldman Sachs-affiliate Japan Renewable Energy prepares to take on 300MW of projects within the next five years.
Developers in Japan with large-scale PV projects in the pipeline have been given just over a year to prove their projects will go ahead, or will lose their feed-in tariff (FiT).
