Operators began gearing up the nuclear reactor at Kyushu Electric Power’s 31-year-old Sendai plant in the city of Satsumasendai last week. Sendai is about 600 miles (1,000 km) southwest of Tokyo on energy-poor Japan’s southernmost main island of Kyushu. The community closest to the plant and governor of the prefecture … [continued]
The fourth anniversary of the multiple meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi no. 1 power plant passed in relative quiet, but events there have hardly become less troubling. The good news first: TEPCO and its contractors have now completed the move of all spent and fresh fuel from the high and … [continued]
The Japan Photovoltaic Energy Association, a group of industry companies and stakeholders, recently issued a strategy document outlining how Japan solar could reach 100GW of installed PV generation capacity by 2030. “PV Outlook 2030–Aiming for a Sure Path to a Smart Country” updates “PV Outlook 2030,” last published by JPEA in … [continued]
Japan often seems to exemplify the pushmi-pullyu nature of energy politics. It’s perhaps most evident in the warp and woof of nuclear power’s position since the meltdowns at Fukushima. But signs are that renewables may be regaining strength, within limits. In the more favorable news, the country’s Ministry of Economy, … [continued]
It’s 12:23 am in Chicago. Twitter has not fully caught on to some history-making Beijing talks yet, but tomorrow should bring a bit of international rejoicing–especially on the matter of climate change. At around midnight EST, Presidents Barack Obama of the US and Xi Jinping of China held a news conference … [continued]
March 2011—when the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami devastated four reactors and endangered two others at Fukushima 1—forced a radical rethinking of Japan’s energy picture that continues today with a Japan feed-in tariff program. In the latest round, the utilities are pushing back against the feed-in tariffs and the fruitful development … [continued]
In the wake of the Fukushima meltdowns, suspension of all nuclear plants (which once provided about 33% of the nation’s electricity and were slated to generate half), and subsequent head-butt from expensive fossil fuel replacement, energy resource-poor Japan is aggressively pushing forward with renewable power options. Formerly a prominent nuclear booster, … [continued]
(Reactor unit locations highlighted on TEPCO’s website map.) The Tokyo Electric Power Company nuclear power complex at Fukushima 1 has suffered a new and dangerous leak. The flaw is in the fifth reactor unit, not in one of the four originally wrecked in March 2011 in what might still become the … [continued]
Originally published on Energy Post. By Rudolf ten Hoedt A first gold rush driven by generous subsidies led to an uncontrolled boom in solar power projects in Japan, of which, however, only a very small percentage actually got built. Now, however, the government has taken charge and serious developers are entering … [continued]
