Article published on www.renewableenergyworld.com, on june 25th 2012
New Hampshire, USA -- Toshiba announced plans this week to install 100-megawatts (MW) worth of PV plants in the devastated Fukushima region of Japan as the solar industry continues to jockey to take advantage of lucrative Feed-in Tariffs announced to take hold at the beginning of July.
Japan, which installed 1.3 gigawatts (GW) of solar in 2011 expects to see that number spike as high as 4.7 GW by the end of 2012. Currently, renewables make up little more than 1 percent of the nation’s energy mix.
Toshiba’s plant — bigger than a 70-MW project announced earlier by Kyocera — expects to come online by 2014. According to analysts, Kyocera, Panasonic and Sharp are among the entrenched Japanese companies that could benefit from the expected $9.6 billion investment that is expected to follow the 53-cent per kilowatt hour payout.
Chinese solar powers Yingli and Suntech are already moving ahead with plans to tap into the surging Japanese market while thin-film maker Solar Frontier remains a strong candidate to fill a good portion of the domestic market. One question still to be decided is whether First Solar will be able to take advantage of the new demand. First Solar’s thin film panels use cadmium telluride, which is banned in Japan.
Ciel et Terre already in japan! Please contact our local agent on http://ciel-et-terre.net/english/the-compagny/team/ and find about our products on http://ciel-et-terre.net/floating-solar-system/
