First Solar, the leading US-based solar panel provider, announced to develop around 250MW of solar projects in Japan. This can be translated into both the incentives from the Japanese government and the company’s ambition to enter into the fast-growing, steady and wealthy market.
Japan has been encouraging its citizens, companies and organizations to adopt clean energy for years. Energy policies like feed-in tariff (FIT) schemes and installation subsidies are all attractive – and successful – incentives to domestic customers. Stronger and stronger demands transform the nation into a global market to international PV makers.
In an interview conducted with First Solar’s director of business development, Karl Brutsaert, in Tokyo, it was pointed out that Japan is now a global investing target.
“Our strategy in Japan is to develop projects, make investments in utility-scale projects, manage the construction phase and also do operation and management over the long term,” said Brutsaert in the interview in a Bloomberg’s article.
The company will invest about US$100 million to develop 250MW of solar projects in Japan. This March, First Solar’s first plant, a 1.3 MW solar PV station in the southwestern city of Kitakyushu, has already started construction. Brutsaert added that Japan’s rooftop PV array installation will become more profitable due to the foreseeable land constrains. He believes the rooftop segment will one day surpass the mega solar (utility-scale solar) in Japan.