Antinuclear

Canada, China, USA now selling solar technology to Japan

What a pity!   Australians designed and pioneered solat technology.

But we leave it to cold climate Canada, and other countries, to develop and make a success of this as an export industry.  And – we even have a Minister for Energy, Martin Ferguson, who quietly sabotages solar and other renewabke energy, every chance he gets!

Canadian Solar jumps into Japan panel market http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nb20120514a1.html
Kyodo Canadian Solar Inc., the world’s fifth-largest maker of solar modules, plans to build a plant in Japan as soon as fiscal 2013 to become the first foreign company to produce solar panels here, company sources said.

The Ontario-based firm is just one of many companies vying for a foothold in Japan as a new government incentive program this July is expected to spur demand for green energy amid public furor over the Fukushima disaster.

“It will be more efficient to produce (the solar panels) where
consumers will be using them,” Yu Kaname, president of Canadian Solar
Japan K.K., said of the decision to manufacture domestically to meet
the anticipated demand. The firm currently imports its solar panels
from China.

Canadian Solar expects to invest several billion yen in the plant,
which will have an annual production capacity of 150 mw. Solar firms
measure production in megawatts.

In March, the firm announced a separate project to build a 2,000-kw
solar power plant in Tsu, Mie Prefecture, scheduled for launch by
March 2013.

The company is reviewing candidate sites in Fukushima Prefecture and
other areas devastated by the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and
nuclear crisis. It is also considering building a training center for
solar panel maintenance and other facilities at the plant to help
boost employment in the disaster-hit region.

Canadian Solar, which boasts high-quality solar photovoltaic products
and low cost structures, has a roughly 3 percent share of the Japanese
market and aims to raise this to 10 percent in five years.

Under the government’s renewable energy feed-in tariff scheme, major
utilities will be required to buy all solar electricity generated in
principle by companies, households and others for ¥42 per kwh,
including sales tax, a price almost equivalent to that being demanded
by green-energy providers.
“Japan has set a high buyback price, which is very attractive, so
there is no reason for foreign companies not to enter the market,”
said Hiroharu Watanabe, a senior analyst at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc.

China’s Suntech Power Holdings Co., the world’s largest producer of
solar panels, will revamp its maintenance site in Saku, Nagano
Prefecture, in July with a showroom and upgraded equipment to improve
customer service.

Meanwhile, Yingli Green Energy Holding Co., also from China, and U.S.
energy services provider SunEdison, have recently announced
full-fledged forays into Japan at a time when demand for solar in
large markets like Europe is waning.

To fend off the jump in competition from foreign players, companies
like Sharp Corp., Kyocera Corp., Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and
Panasonic Corp., which recently took over Sanyo Electric Co., are
focusing on high power generation efficiencies and stepping up efforts
to expand businesses targeting households and industrial companies to
meet demand triggered by the quake and government incentives. 20%
power-saving plea

AFP-Jiji
Companies and households in much of central and western Japan will be
asked to cut electricity use by up to 20 percent, reports said Sunday
as threats of summer blackouts loomed.

A government panel expects Kansai Electric Power Co. to come up 14.9
percent short of peak demand in August. To avoid blackouts, the panel
plans to seek around a 20 percent cut in usage in Kansai from 2010
levels, the Asahi Shimbun and the Mainichi Shimbun dailies said.

May 14, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized