116 P. MIDFORD
projects funded through this subsidy purchased imported batteries, which
represented 42% of total added storage capacity. Foreign manufacturers
supplied 76% of installed lithium-ion battery capacity, although only 10%
of lead–acid battery capacity. In at least four METI subsidized projects,
the main investors were from outside Japan (SII 2017, slides 15–17). 17
While there was some slowdown in solar PV growth from the breakneck pace in 2014, healthy growth in solar PV connections continued
through the rest of the decade. On the other hand, in sunny southern
Kyushu the new rules, along with falling FIT rates for newly connected
solar PV projects, may have contributed to developer decisions to delay
or scrap up to 1.4 GW of new solar PV capacity there (Publicover 2016).
Nonetheless, even in Kyushu solar PV growth continued to be robust
through 2018 (Yamashita 2018). Thanks in part to the large-scale introduction of storage batteries through METI’s initial subsidy, and a nearly
50% fall in the levelized cost of such batteries (to USD 150/MWh)
between 2018 and 2020 (Eckhouse 2020), increasingly large storage
batteries have been used at more and more renewable energy plants.
Recent notable cases include a 6.5 MW solar PV project in Akita prefecture with a 24.4 MWh battery, a 3.7 MWh battery for a solar project in
Fukuoka, Kyushu, an 11 MWh battery for a solar project in Nagano, and
a 21 MWh battery for a solar project in Hokkaido. In total, 507 MWh
worth of storage batteries were deployed to back up renewable energy in
Japan in 2019, although over half of this total, 267 MWh, were batteries
for household systems (PV Tech 2020).
Limited Curtailment Begins in Kyushu
Kyushu has proven to be an especially problematic region, not only
because of the rapid buildup of solar PV facilities there in view of the
abundant sunshine on this southern most of Japan’s four major islands
(by August 2018 Kyushu had 8 GW of installed solar PV capacity), but
also because Kyushu EPCO, the fifth largest EPCO overall, became the
leading EPCO for restarting nuclear reactors. In late August 2018, it
restarted its fourth reactor, by which time KEPCO was the only other
company to have restarted a nuclear reactor. In mid-October, Kyushu
EPCO initiated Japan’s first curtailment of renewable energy, restricting
up to 4.2 GW of capacity (but not another 3.8 GW of capacity, which
included facilities operating under the older rules that made curtailment
more difficult). 8.2 GW of grid connected solar PV capacity had been
projects funded through this subsidy purchased imported batteries, which
represented 42% of total added storage capacity. Foreign manufacturers
supplied 76% of installed lithium-ion battery capacity, although only 10%
of lead–acid battery capacity. In at least four METI subsidized projects,
the main investors were from outside Japan (SII 2017, slides 15–17). 17
While there was some slowdown in solar PV growth from the breakneck pace in 2014, healthy growth in solar PV connections continued
through the rest of the decade. On the other hand, in sunny southern
Kyushu the new rules, along with falling FIT rates for newly connected
solar PV projects, may have contributed to developer decisions to delay
or scrap up to 1.4 GW of new solar PV capacity there (Publicover 2016).
Nonetheless, even in Kyushu solar PV growth continued to be robust
through 2018 (Yamashita 2018). Thanks in part to the large-scale introduction of storage batteries through METI’s initial subsidy, and a nearly
50% fall in the levelized cost of such batteries (to USD 150/MWh)
between 2018 and 2020 (Eckhouse 2020), increasingly large storage
batteries have been used at more and more renewable energy plants.
Recent notable cases include a 6.5 MW solar PV project in Akita prefecture with a 24.4 MWh battery, a 3.7 MWh battery for a solar project in
Fukuoka, Kyushu, an 11 MWh battery for a solar project in Nagano, and
a 21 MWh battery for a solar project in Hokkaido. In total, 507 MWh
worth of storage batteries were deployed to back up renewable energy in
Japan in 2019, although over half of this total, 267 MWh, were batteries
for household systems (PV Tech 2020).
Limited Curtailment Begins in Kyushu
Kyushu has proven to be an especially problematic region, not only
because of the rapid buildup of solar PV facilities there in view of the
abundant sunshine on this southern most of Japan’s four major islands
(by August 2018 Kyushu had 8 GW of installed solar PV capacity), but
also because Kyushu EPCO, the fifth largest EPCO overall, became the
leading EPCO for restarting nuclear reactors. In late August 2018, it
restarted its fourth reactor, by which time KEPCO was the only other
company to have restarted a nuclear reactor. In mid-October, Kyushu
EPCO initiated Japan’s first curtailment of renewable energy, restricting
up to 4.2 GW of capacity (but not another 3.8 GW of capacity, which
included facilities operating under the older rules that made curtailment
more difficult). 8.2 GW of grid connected solar PV capacity had been