The Japanese Feed-in-Tariffs (FiTs) for non-residential solar power plants as of 10 kW will be lowered by 14%, from JPY21/kWh in 2017 to JPY18/kWh (US$17c/kWh). The reduction will apply to facilities that are certified in and after April 2018 for a 20-year period.
The main driver behind this new policy is the need to actualize cost and facility utilization rates. The expected system cost was decreased from JPY244,000/kW (US$2,250/kW) in 2017 to Yen221,000/kW (US$2,040/kW) in 2018. The expected facility utilization rate has been increased to 17.1% in 2018 from the previous 15.1% in 2017.
Feed-in tariffs for residential PV systems (below 10 kW) were set in 2017 for the 2017-2019 period and will remain unchanged, at JPY 26/kWh (US$24c/kWh) for 2018 and JPY24/kWh (US$22c/kWh) in 2019 in regions where output control equipment is not required to be installed; they are set at JPY28/kWh (US$26c/kWh) for 2018 and JPY 26/kWh (US$24c/kWh) for 2019 in regions where the installation of output control equipment is required.
Larger solar plants - 2 MW or higher - were shifted to the bidding system in 2017.