New law doubles “Buy-Back” rates for surplus residential solar power.

The “Energy supply provision law”, a bill to oblige electric power companies to purchase surplus solar energy produced by private residences at twice the market rate, has been recently approved by the Upper House of the Japanese Diet and became law on the first of the month. The Japanese Government is establishing the new system this year, having set specific provisions overseeing the implementation procedures. With the popularization and spread of solar power, the cost of buying surplus power from businesses and private homes has been raised.

Electric utility companies presently buy electrical surplus from residential solar energy on a voluntary basis. While the current price for buying surplus energy is around the same level currently charged to residential homes for one kilowatt-hour, around 24 yen, the new system will oblige electrical utility companies to buy surplus power at 50 yen. Installing the new system will cost around 2,000,000 yen (about $21,000 USD), and at current surplus buyback prices, recouping the investment will take several decades. METI hopes that by doubling the prices of surplus energy for new construction, this time period will be shortened to about 10 years. METI anticipates that by 2020 the new system will result in an increase of solar energy installations by 10 to 20 times current levels. It’s also predicted that the cost of installing the new solar energy systems will be halved in 3-5 years. It is hoped that this new system will help Japan achieve the goal of not only becoming the largest solar energy producer in the world, but also surpass Germany in terms of surplus power buy backs.
(as reported by K. Takenaka – Asahi News)