CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets has estimated Japan could have 7.6 GW of wind power by 2016. For solar, that estimate is 17.3 GW by 2014. Combine those two and you have 24.9 GW by 2016. The total offshore wind potential is at least 1,600 GW. Onshore is 280 GW.
Japan has set a three-year window for very high feed-in tariffs to encourage explosive renewable energy. (Extremely explosive might be more accurate.) Though these numbers may seem ludicrously ambitious and even laughable to some, one only needs to consider the shuttering of nuclear power in Japan to understand the urgency of the energy situation there.
As already noted on CleanTechnica in June, Japan’s feed-in tariff rates could vault their clean energy production to levels alongside Germany and similarly enthusiastic clean energy early adopters. The tariff for wind there is currently the highest in the world.
Japan had been getting about one-fifth of its power from nuclear reactors, so as they are phased out completely, there will be no alternative other than to develop new sources and nothing makes as much as sense as clean energy because it fits the view of a saner future much better. A big push for clean energy also might benefit the economy which is not doing well. In fact, there are early signs it could slip into a recession.
Image Credit: 663highland, Wiki Commons
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