At a council meeting held on July 27, Kawasaki City in Kanagawa Prefecture presented a draft proposal to make the installation of PV system mandatory for newly constructed houses and other buildings in the city. In order to expand the introduction of renewable energy, the city is considering the enactment of an ordinance for a mandatory installation system for renewable energy facilities.

In the draft presented in reference to the prior systems of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and Kyoto Prefecture, developers and other builders will be obligated to install renewable energy system for new and expanded buildings with a total floor area of 2,000 m2 or more. Renewable energy power procurement will be included in the system only if certain conditions are met. In the case of newly constructed buildings of less than 2,000 m2, such as residential houses, the installation obligation of PV system will be imposed on housing manufacturers and other businesses with a total annual supply floor area of 5,000 m2 or more in the city. It is planned that renewable energy power procurement will not be allowed. In the future, the city will also consider exemptions for cases where installation is difficult due to solar irradiation conditions or other factors.

Residential and commercial PV installations in the city totaled 93 MW in FY 2020. The city estimates the potential for installation by 2050 to be 811 MW, and the expected value of additions between 2020 and 2050 to be 718 MW. Of the potential, which includes other renewable energy sources, 99% of the expected additions are residential and commercial, indicating the need for the city to strengthen the promotion of PV installation on buildings.

Kawasaki city plans to compile a draft report by October, revise the city’s ordinance on the promotion of global warming countermeasures by the end of FY2022, and aim to implement the ordinance in FY 2023.

Kawasaki City has been selected as one of the first “leading areas of decarbonization” by the Ministry of the Environment (MoE), and is promoting various initiatives to achieve a virtually 100% reduction of CO2 emissions by 2050.