In a completely unexpected move, Japan has decided to remove the incentives for Small Wind Turbines up to 20KW and lump them together with large scale turbines. If this decision takes effect, it would not only extinguish the Japanese Industry around this smaller class of wind turbines, but also that of many international suppliers who relied on the promise from the Japanese government.

Campaign site: http://iwta.net/eng/​

日本語｜GERMANY

The Committee for Procurement Price of Japan (the “Committee”) held a meeting on Jan 19, discussing incentives of renewable energy. The Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) for Small Wind Turbines (less than 20kW) was part of the agenda, whereas this topic was rarely discussed in previous meetings and the decision to adjust the FIT for this category was continuously postponed in the past.

The committee spent exactly 7 minutes discussing this category of FIT incentives with the completely unexpected decision to abolish this class all together, effectively reducing the FIT from JPY55/KWh (USD0.50) to JPY21/KWh. (USD0.18).

The impact of this 7 minute decision sets a serious (negative) precedent for the renewable industry all around the world. Within those 7 minutes, the multi-year effort and tremendous investment of an entire industry got wiped out!

Companies such as turbine makers, importers, or developers have invested huge amounts of money to prepare competitive products for this market in Japan, most of which will go out of business, if this decision prevails. It will affect the credibility of Japan as a reliable place of business for Foreign Direct Investment. Feed-in-Tariffs (FIT) are incentive programs to encourage and kick-start renewable energy technologies with the ultimate goal to reduce the amount of incentives gradually over years until such new technologies can freely compete in the marketplace. Successful FIT programs need to provide enough long-term predictability and security for technology providers to justify their investment.

This outrageous decision to reduce the FIT by 60% almost overnight and without notice does not instill any confidence for future renewable technology investments in Japan

Please check out the “We Believe in Japan” website http://iwta.net/eng/ for more information and/or simply sign up online for our petition to avoid destruction of this industry.

This petition will be handed to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) in Japan to reconsider their decision.
Please sign up here for the future of renewable energy in Japan!