33,000 renewable energy projects approved since July 1

For sustainability, gvt should invest in the whole renewable energy value chain, including research, capacity building, awareness campaigns, education on power saving, etc...not only approving projects.

Excellent! Keep it going! Maybe this will also inspire companies to develop better solar power technology that can be sold to consumers at a reasonable price. Then we can start decommisioning the NPP and rely on safer, cleaner energy and get rid of the horribly mismanaged company that is TEPCO.

Yubaru, I agree with you on the cost/benefit situation. Our analyses seem to be just the same, except that over a year you probably get more sunlight in Okinawa than I do in the Saitama/Gunma border country.

I can't afford the investment, and the payback on it would take too long even if I could, although a lease deal sounds good. I get paid rent for a utility pole, too, and I'd like to see the same deal with solar panels. Another plus would be that any earthquake/typhoon/tornado damage to the panels wouldn't be up to me to repair.

BTW, even in one of the hottest cities in Japan, I haven't used the A/C yet this year. A couple of fans (one is more for the PC's benefit than mine), screened windows on all four sides of the house to catch any breeze, and strategically placed sunscreens/sunshades have been keeping it (barely) bearable.

also possible projects seem to be combined head and power (CHP) from industry, effectively wasted energy used to make electricity. So much can be done outside of panels and wind turbines.

The other advantage is that these projects are local and not subject to earthquake turn off from far away. It makes more sense to have a lot of little plants instead of major ones, especially in an earthquake prone country.

Hope it's another 33,000 soon!

Yubaru, there is lots of research into solar panels that are much cheaper and easier to set up than the current ones. Hopefully a new generation of organic solar cells will hit the markets in 2014.

Fantastic, BUT will it be enough to meet the needs. Probably not, but it does increase employment and manufacturing, unless all the parts come from China.

The numbers don't seem to add up. The article says that wind power in the new projects accounts for a total of 122 MW, but then says that the Toshiba offshore wind project alone will have an output of 300MW and the Marubeni projects another 250MW. The total for the solar projects comes to well over 1000MW, but the article says 243MW.

The 122 MW is from 6 approved wind power projects. The offshore project is a separate one. Likewise the 243 MW come from 81 schemes already running. Many additional projects are being planned or have been planned. This is how I interpret the numbers.

Maybe this will also inspire companies to develop better solar power technology that can be sold to consumers at a reasonable price

I agree! I checked into getting solar panels installed on my house, when the sun is shining down here I get an average of roughly 10hours of sunlight on the roof, but the installation costs outweigh any benefits that I could get back by selling unused power back to the local utility. Plus it would take over 10 years or more for me to recoup the costs.

The investment is just too much right now.

What I would like to see is solar companies offer to lease my roof space for their panels to produce energy that they can then resell to the electrical utility. If they would pay the cost of installation, they would reap the profits as well. The sun shines down here in Okinawa quite regularly, and I believe that this would be a business opportunity for someone with the money and backing to get it off the ground.

Heck NTT pays me to rent the land where their telephone pole sits on my property, why couldnt a solar company do the same on my roof?

Yubaru, there is lots of research into solar panels that are much cheaper and easier to set up than the current ones. Hopefully a new generation of organic solar cells will hit the markets in 2014.

Yes, I've seen the thin panels that are on the market, and hopefully someday soon they will be cheap enough for all consumers to purchase them.

Take THAT, nuclear and fossil fuels.

This is very good news, I'm happy that Japanese businesses are finally investing money in the future. Though 243 MW is still so little... For example a single Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine generates 6000 MW (it has 6 reactors, 1000 MW each). I hope the number and especially capacity of renewable projects will grow in the forthcoming years.

Though 243 MW is still so little...

It's a good start. With the currently planned projects it will expand to over 1000 megawatts in a few years.

They could be talking about the maximum output in one case versus the average output in the other.

Erm??? They are funding 33000 renewable energy projects while they continue to build three more nuclear plants (i.e. the REAL source of energy for the foreseeable future, and beyond?) 33000 little red herrings to keep people who can 'do' things busy, and people who 'say' or 'write' things in forums like these quiet, while they get on with building more power plants. This would only work with a naive, blinkered and thoroughly led indigenous population so....oh hang on a sec... Let me change that vote to 'nice little science projects folks'. Keep it up!

Welfare power. Hope you love to pay taxes, these "renewable" power sources are all powered with taxpayer money. Might be cheaper to heat your house by burning yen directly without the bureaucracy costs.