Japan Solar Update: No.46 (May 22 ~ 26, 2023)
<Key points>
- The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has started discussing the strict measures to prevent recurrence and the review of the operation of the renewable energy business management system after discovering unauthorized accesses to the system
- The system centrally manages information on PV project approval, etc. based on the Act on Special Measures Concerning Procurement of Electricity from Renewable Energy Sources by Electricity Utilities. Since the system includes personal information such as approved operators’ names and addresses, provisional measures have been taken which limit the system users, available information, etc.
- Policy to present and intensively examine immediate measures as well as medium and long-term measures
Purpose of the meeting
– Since unauthorized accesses are inappropriate in terms of proper information management and security of competitive relationships, strict measures are required to prevent recurrence and the system operation needs to be reviewed.
- The renewable energy business management system was established to centrally manage the information on PV project approval, etc. based on the Act on Special Measures Concerning Procurement of Electricity from Renewable Energy Sources by Electricity Utilities
- Each general power transmission and distribution operator was given the authority to access only the information on certified facilities within its service area.
- Since February 2023, the accounts held by all general power transmission and distribution operators have been shared by electric retailers of their groups and there have been cases of these retailers accessing to the system.
In the collected reports, the electric power companies responded that these retailers accessed to the system mainly to improve efficiency of administrative procedures, such as grant application-related matters and responses to inquiries and did not use the system for the purpose of sales activities.
Measures concerning protection of personal information
The renewable energy business management system includes personal information as well, such as approved operators’ names, addresses, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses
Policy to present the perspectives for future discussion (draft ) and conduct intensive discussion
| Immediate measures |
For preventing recurrence of such incidents, operation of the renewable energy business management system will be reviewed as follows:
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Medium and longterm measures |
– Since the purchase service under the FIT program will continue, it is necessary to improve the system operation for more efficient service, after taking sufficient measures to prevent recurrence. – It is important to pay full attention to the perspectives such as the impact on fair competition among electric utilities and the strict management of information available in the system. |
Figure 1: Summary of discussions at the Study Group on Operation of Renewable Energy Business Management System Source: Materials of the first meeting of the Study Group on Operation of Renewable Energy Business Management System (Apr. 17, 2023), compiled by RTS Corporation