Japan has been involved in solar power development since the early 1990s when the country installed its first solar power plant. It has already become one of the top countries for total solar Photo Voltaic (PV) panels installed and its companies are leading manufacturers of PV solar panels. Comparing to the installed generation capacity of Solar PV panels all over the world, Japan stands at the third position after Italy and Germany. Until now, Europe has had a stronghold on the world solar market but Japan, China, USA and Australia are the major economies that are following Europe in the solar footsteps.
Japan has enormous solar reserves to generate power which can take off the load from fossil fuels and reduce the imports. After the Fukushima nuclear incident there is no nuclear power generation in the country and hence solar energy becomes a frontrunner in sufficing the power demand of the country. With the population still coping with the aftereffects of the disaster and development again taking a faster pace, the country will soon experience a greater need for power for which it will have to diversify its energy sources.
In 2011, the Japan contributed 7% to the world’s total installed solar PV capacity. Japan has grown stronger in terms of installed PV especially after the Fukushima incident which has been supported by a change in the policies as well. Japan started concentrating on solar power generation since the early 1990s; in 2011, it added more than 1 GW in installed capacity for the first time in any given year.
