Energy Policy

The Japanese cabinet is moving ahead with a proposal to revamp the country’s electricity industry and foster competition by obliging utilities to split power generation and distribution into separate businesses. The plan, which requires parliamentary approval, is aimed at encouraging innovation and grid modernization as  Japan grapples with its energy policy after the shutting down of almost all its nuclear power plants in the wake of the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. The idea of liberalizing Japan’s electricity market has been around for years and was included in a series of economic overhauls, intended to improve the country’s competitiveness, being discussed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration.

The India solar policy brief on the Tamil Nadu Solar Policy, just published by Bridge To India presents a detailed analysis on the risks and opportunities on the state’s ambitious 3-GW solar power target till 2015. With its policy announcement in October 2012, Tamil Nadu becomes the seventh Indian state out of 28 to announce an official solar target. No breakup between photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated solar power (CSP) projects has been given as part of the policy.

As part of its recently announced energy policy, China has announced a number of measures designed to bolster its flagging solar power industry.

Only five days after a Japanese cabinet panel put forward a plan  to phase out nuclear power in the country by 2040, the government has been forced to back down in the face of intense lobbying by business groups and political unease ahead of an election expected by year-end. Yesterday Japanese lawmakers only partially endorsed the government’s energy strategy document, removing any mention of the deadline, which was the most strongly supported option in the two-month public consultation on which the document was based.

SB Energy, the renewable energy arm of Japanese telecom and Internet group Softbank, is planning a wind farm in Hokkaido with as many as 500 turbines and a combined output of 1-GW. Company spokesman Kenichi Yuasa told Bloomberg that SB Energy is in discussion with local government officials to scale the project to meet power needs of the country’s northernmost prefecture, which has a population of 5.5 million.