Renewable energy investments in Japan keep rising

Government vows to increase spending on renewables.

The Japanese government has revealed plans to boost investment in renewable energy; will pour money into separate generation and transmission and will liberalize electricity sales.

Japan will increase investment in the power sector by about 50% from the previous decade’s levels to roughly US$299 billion over the next 10 years.

The government will invest in clean-energy resources such as wind power, and significantly streamline environmental assessment procedures that have been blamed for restricting the rapid development of onshore wind power.

The government will also push forward with efforts to separate electricity distribution from generation, functions currently controlled by utilities.