114 P. MIDFORD
raising targets for how much renewable energy each EPCO can safely
accept as their grid capacities improve. METI has been studying the EU’s
“Connect and Manage” system for expanding the amount of renewable
energy connected to the grid through conditional access and the flexible use of spare capacity (METI 2018, p. 53). Rather the policies of
METI and the OCCTO appear to be better explained by the strong-state
hypothesis that sees government institutions in strong states as having
bureaucratic capacity and sufficient distance from societal interests to
make policy for the larger good of the country (see the Introduction
chapter). Their behavior also arguably reflects the Abe administration’s
renewable energy policy that is more supportive and follows the KanNoda road map more than many observers recognize, and the influence of
public opinion, which supports the expansion of renewable energy while
remaining very skeptical of nuclear power.
One example of METI supporting renewable energy was its introduction of the “Emergency Subsidy for Suspension of Renewable Energy
Connection (storage battery introduction support system for renewable
energy producers).” Beyond the FIT, this program, launched shortly after
the five EPCOs’ grid application suspension, provided renewable energy
producers with a subsidy to install megawatt-sized storage batteries,
allowing mega-solar facilities to generate and store much of their power
during the day and sell to the EPCOs at night and other times when solar
generation is less and demand is higher (Kaneko 2017). Such batteries not
only largely eliminate the problem of variable production, they even allow
solar PV producers to earn additional revenue selling balancing services to
the grid, as TESLA’s megawatt battery storage system does in Australia
(Deign 2018). For fiscal year 2015, METI budgeted 74.40 billion Yen
for emergency responses to the suspension of grid connections for renewable energy, of which 26.5 billion Yen (approximately USD 240 million
at 2020 rates) was allocated to this battery subsidy program. A total of
6.25 billion (approximately USD 58 million) was used between 2015
and 2017 to fund 137 MWh of battery storage capacity for 230 MW of
installed solar and wind generating capacity (SII 2017, slide 3). 15 These
funded 16 large projects, 13 small power company projects, and 254 individual/personal firm projects, with an acceptance rate ranging from 68 to
93% (SII 2017, slide 18)
Among METI’s “Emergency Subsidy for Suspension of Renewable
Energy Connection” funded storage battery projects were thirteen large
ones in the Tohoku, Hokkaido, and Kyushu EPCO service regions.
raising targets for how much renewable energy each EPCO can safely
accept as their grid capacities improve. METI has been studying the EU’s
“Connect and Manage” system for expanding the amount of renewable
energy connected to the grid through conditional access and the flexible use of spare capacity (METI 2018, p. 53). Rather the policies of
METI and the OCCTO appear to be better explained by the strong-state
hypothesis that sees government institutions in strong states as having
bureaucratic capacity and sufficient distance from societal interests to
make policy for the larger good of the country (see the Introduction
chapter). Their behavior also arguably reflects the Abe administration’s
renewable energy policy that is more supportive and follows the KanNoda road map more than many observers recognize, and the influence of
public opinion, which supports the expansion of renewable energy while
remaining very skeptical of nuclear power.
One example of METI supporting renewable energy was its introduction of the “Emergency Subsidy for Suspension of Renewable Energy
Connection (storage battery introduction support system for renewable
energy producers).” Beyond the FIT, this program, launched shortly after
the five EPCOs’ grid application suspension, provided renewable energy
producers with a subsidy to install megawatt-sized storage batteries,
allowing mega-solar facilities to generate and store much of their power
during the day and sell to the EPCOs at night and other times when solar
generation is less and demand is higher (Kaneko 2017). Such batteries not
only largely eliminate the problem of variable production, they even allow
solar PV producers to earn additional revenue selling balancing services to
the grid, as TESLA’s megawatt battery storage system does in Australia
(Deign 2018). For fiscal year 2015, METI budgeted 74.40 billion Yen
for emergency responses to the suspension of grid connections for renewable energy, of which 26.5 billion Yen (approximately USD 240 million
at 2020 rates) was allocated to this battery subsidy program. A total of
6.25 billion (approximately USD 58 million) was used between 2015
and 2017 to fund 137 MWh of battery storage capacity for 230 MW of
installed solar and wind generating capacity (SII 2017, slide 3). 15 These
funded 16 large projects, 13 small power company projects, and 254 individual/personal firm projects, with an acceptance rate ranging from 68 to
93% (SII 2017, slide 18)
Among METI’s “Emergency Subsidy for Suspension of Renewable
Energy Connection” funded storage battery projects were thirteen large
ones in the Tohoku, Hokkaido, and Kyushu EPCO service regions.