Japan Solar Update: No.76 (Dec 25 ~ 29, 2023)
The Ministry of the Environment (MoE) released the results of the “Fourth selection of Decarbonization Leading Areas” on Nov 7, 2023.
<Key points>
- There were 54 applications from 62 municipalities nationwide, of which 12 were selected, including Kumamoto Prefecture, Osaka City, and Sendai City
- The total PV capacity in the fourth selection was 92,480 kW, of which Kumamoto Prefecture has the largest capacity of 16,370 kW, including a plan for a 7,700-kW floating PV (FPV) project on a dam lake
- In the Decarbonization Leading Areas project, the planned minimum PV capacity to be introduced is 506 MW as a total of four rounds (due to undecided capacity for some projects), including 150 MW for the first round, 139 MW for the second round, 125 MW for the third round, and 92 MW for the fourth round
In the fourth public call for the Leading Decarbonization Areas, 12 projects with particular characteristics from the perspective of innovation and the potential of serving as a model were selected by evaluating the “conservation of biodiversity” and “integrated efforts with resource recycling” etc., in addition to evaluating the “regional revitalization and town development aligned with local characteristics and the creation of diverse leading areas that contribute to GX (green transformation)”, which were set at the time of the third selection.
Hereafter, evaluations will be conducted from seven perspectives as follows: 1) the scope, size, and concept; 2) consensus building; 3) the scale of renewable energy facilities and certainty of their introduction; 4) business feasibility; 5) contribution to regional economic circulation; 6) the future vision of the region, and 7) the innovation and the potential of serving as a model. The fifth round of public call is planned in 2024, but details have yet to be determined. Table 1 shows the results of the fourth selection of Decarbonization Leading Areas.
Table 1 results of the fourth selection of Decarbonization Leading Areas
