Japan panel to set solar power fee at 51 cents/kwh -Nikkei

[kristopher]

Japan panel to set solar power fee at 51 cents/kwh -Nikkei
Sun Apr 22, 2012 11:09pm EDT

(Reuters) - A Japanese government panel is likely to recommend utilities pay 42 yen (51 cents) per kilowatt-hour (kwh) for solar power supplies in a feed-in tariff scheme, in line with requests by the solar power industry, the Nikkei business daily said.

Japan is overhauling its energy policy after the Fukushima nuclear crisis shattered public confidence in the safety of atomic power, and is set to introduce a new subsidy scheme from July which covers all kinds of renewable energy to support the budding market for domestically produced power.

The recommended rate for solar power includes tax and is to be paid for about 20 years, the report said on Monday. That is roughly double the rate that households pay for electricity usage and almost meets the solar power industry's request for 42 yen without tax, it added.

The rates could encourage potential business investors to enter the market, but the higher rate would come at a greater cost to consumers, to whom the utilities pass on the burden...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/23/japan-solar-idUSL3E8FN00R20120423

Actually the 4th paragraph is a questionable assumption. The German experience shows that the savings from displaced fossil fuels tends to equal or exceed the subsidy.

[kristopher]

1. "That is roughly double the rate that households pay for electricity usage"

This is a golden opportunity for individuals and communities in Japan.

It is about time they got a break.

[FBaggins]

2. "The German experience"

Last edited Mon Apr 23, 2012, 08:21 PM - Edit history (1)

The German experience shows that the savings from displaced fossil fuels tends to equal or exceed the subsidy.

Which is, of course, why they're desperate to cut the FIT... because it's saving them so much money.

[kristopher]

3. You would have absolutely nothing to say if you had to stick to the truth

You know very well that the reduction in FITs is a proper adjustment to the program made to keep the reimbursement level to the system owners constant in the face of declining system installation costs.

Far from being a sign of any sort of failure it is a sign that the subsidy is working.

Germany Installed 3 GW of Solar PV in December — The U.S. Installed 1.7 GW in All of 2011
By Stephen Lacey on Jan 10, 2012 at 3:47 pm

And the Germans did it at roughly half the price.

In the lead up to another 15% reduction in Germany’s feed-in tariff (the price paid for solar electricity fed into the grid), the German solar industry finished 2011 off with a bang — installing 3,000 megawatts of solar photovoltaic systems in December.

Let’s put those figures in perspective: In just one month, Germany installed almost twice as many megawatts of solar than the entire U.S. developed during all of 2011. Preliminary figures show Germany ended the year with roughly 7,500 MW of installations; the U.S. ended up with about 1,700 megawatts, according to GTM Research.

Oh, and I should probably mention that the Germans installed all of that solar at almost half the price. The average price of an installed solar system in Germany came to $2.80 in the third quarter of 2011. In the U.S., it was about $5.20 in the third quarter.

Why the disparity? The Germans have a much more mature solar market. The country’s simple, long-term feed-in tariff makes financing projects less expensive, and has created a sophisticated supply chain that allows companies to source product, generate leads and get systems on rooftops efficiently.

Some criticize feed-in tariffs for not creating a “market” like we imagine in the U.S....

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/01/10/401882/germany-installed-2-gw-of-solar-pv-in-the-month-of-december/

[Dead_Parrot]

4. I think your missing the point, kris

Nobody's arguing with the fact that if you got €30k to blow on a pv system, you can get other people to pay for it and roll around in fat stacks of cash.

The question is about those folks doing the paying. I know you like to pretend poor people don't exist, but I'm afraid the issue is going to pop up every so often on a site like DU.

[kristopher]

6. Someone that hawks for nuclear power pretending to speak for the poor?

Reread post #3 and then revisit the posts about the effects of merit order pricing.

So we have solar PV costs in Germany at 1/2 that of the US. We have half of all renewable energy owned by individuals and communities in Germany, so the money paid for that electricity is being recycled back into the local community and not going into the corporate coffers of the utilities; and finally we have two cash streams you keep bouncing between when you pretend that the savings to the everyone's electric bills do not exist to offset the price of the subsidies. After pondering the folly of your stubborn refusal to face the facts...

... you can read this:

Post-Fukushima nuclear allergy spreads in France
...The nuclear issue is playing a significant role in the election campaign that will determine a new president on May 6. According to public opinion polls, Sarkozy has only a slim chance of being re-elected, and if he fails, the industry will miss its most prominent salesman.

What is the record in nuclear dreamland France, which has served as a blueprint for Japan's adventures in splitting the atom? While nuclear plants provide three-quarters of the country's electricity, this equates to only 17 percent of the final energy compared to close to half still being provided by oil.

Energy independence? Due to highly inefficient uses, per capita oil consumption in France is as high or higher than in Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom or even the European Union on average. In 2011, the foreign trade deficit reached a historic record of ?70 billion — most of it due to oil and gas imports — while Germany registered a ?158 billion surplus.

When freezing weather hit Europe in early February, France's neighbors made available up to 13,000 MW net to save the French grid from collapsing. Of this, 3,000 MW came from Germany, which had shut down half of its nuclear fleet just days after the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

This is the result of irrational policy incentives that have pushed electric space heating into one-third of existing and three- quarters of new homes. As a result, every degree Celsius drop in temperature increases capacity needs by 2,300 MW. Furthermore, energy poverty now affects about 4 million French households, of which 1.1 million had access to social tariffs in 2010, a 120 percent increase since 2007....

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/eo20120419a1.html

[Dead_Parrot]

7. This may suprise you, kris...

...but throwing out insults and copy-pasting irrelevant text isn't as convincing as you seem to think.

[kristopher]

8. What doesn't surprise me ...

... is that you persist in making posts with no content except snarky one-liners.

Perhaps you have some sort of malady from too much twitter?

If you want to compare this to nuclear...

[Dead_Parrot]

9. I've tried long posts, kris...

...they don't get anywhere. This way I save time and effort.

If you come up with anything to say about German electricity prices (y'know, the price actual people pay) feel free to throw it in. In the mean time, I'll leave you to dribble over spot prices.

[kristopher]

10. Not in the past 6 years you haven't.

All you've ever contributed is sniping with snark and diversion away from anything that threatens the nuclear power industry.

And just so that you know, the money spent for the electricity bought on the spot market makes up a significant and disproportionately large part of the retail price of electricity. The idea that renewable subsidies are some sort of drain on society is a solid right-wing meme.

[FBaggins]

5. You're not just trying to get my to buy that nonsense...

...you're insisting that I sell it?

No thanks.

Far from being a sign of any sort of failure it is a sign that the subsidy is working.

You can't seriously expect people to believe that the FIT caused the price declines?

And who said that it was a failure? They succeeded in installing a whole boatload of solar power. Oh sure, it's a failure if you think that its purpose was to build a german solar manufacturing sector (now collapsing), but I don't think that's the purpose (just part of how it was sold).

You know very well that the reduction in FITs is a proper adjustment

I have little doubt that it's the "proper adjustment" (though I'm shocked to see you post it)... but it's also clear that you're (once again) dodging the central point... which is that you dont cut something that saves you more than it costs you. You increase it.

[kristopher]

11. I'm not trying to get you to buy anything...

My only interest in what you write is to correct your unending misinformation.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/04/24/469934/alec-plans-to-craft-legislation-to-take-down-state-renewable-energy-targets/