Japan

A total of 885MW new PV capacity was installed in Japan between April and September 2012, equating to the launch of Japan’s FiT.

Tepco admitted that it was aware safety improvements were necessary for the Fukushima nuclear power plant long before the nuclear disaster.

Solar energy projects constitute 83% of clean energy projects recently approved by the Japanese government.

Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority says that the start-up of more idled nuclear reactors will not come until next year.

Spanish solar plant maker Gestamp Solar is investing US$1.16 billion to build solar plants and panels in Japan.

SMA Solar Technology will supply inverters to Kagoshima Mega Solar Power’s 70MW solar plant, which is set to be completed by next fall.

Tokyo Gas will invest in Tokyo Electric Power Company's $3.9 billion project at the Sodegaura power plant in Chiba, east of Tokyo.

Japan marked the first year-on-year decline in two months after power demand fell 0.3 percent in September from a year earlier.

With emphasis on rooftop projects, Gestamp Solar intends to develop 300MW of solar power projects in Japan over three years.

Japan’s Sumitomo Group has bought a fourth of the 550 megawatt Desert Sunlight Solar Farm, now under construction in the Mojave Desert in southern California.

Sumitomo will add wind farms and at least two biomass plants to take advantage of the market rates for electricity from renewable sources the government introduced in July.

New education and science minister Makiko Tanaka questioned the phasing out nuclear power generation by the 2030s without terminating the long-standing policy to recycle spent fuel.

NexPower Technology will provide 2MW of its Xtreme+ Series modules for various projects in western Japan.

Japan's Chubu Electric Power is intensifying its drive to secure cheap and stable supplies of liquefied natural gas from the United States.

J-Power could become the first Japanese utility construct a nuclear power plant since the Fukushima crisis.

Japan's new renewable energy program has already exceeded its fiscal 2012 target by more than 50 percent.