Why this is important to Wisconsin: Wisconsin companies in the renewable energy sector could find opportunities to work with Japanese companies.
Japan plans to expand its use of renewable power and create a more stable energy supply.
The Sixth Strategic Energy Plan, adopted in 2021, calls for doubling the use of renewables from 19% in 2021 to as much as 38% of the power mix by 2030 and making them at least half of the nation’s power supply by 2050.
Of the green energy sources, Japan plans to get up to 16% from solar, 5% from wind, 1% from geothermal, 11% from hydropower, and 5% from biomass by 2030.
The strategy also calls for increasingthe use of nuclear energy from 5% in 2022 to at least 20% by 2030.
At the same time, the country’s goal is to become carbon neutral in 2050 by lowering emissions from the power, industrial, and transportation sectors.
Japan has been largely dependent on fossil fuels for its energy supply. In 2010, the year before the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami—the largest quake ever recorded in Japan, leaving 18,000 people dead—fossil fuels comprised 81% of the energy supply. That dependence rose to 87% in 2017 because of the shutdown of nuclear power plants in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami.
A $15.9 billion fund is being created to promote ecological businesses and innovation, with tax credits of up to 10%, according to a briefing by the European Parliament. The report says that by 2050, Japan plans to use renewable sources for up to 60% of its power, hydrogen and ammonia for 10%, and energy from nuclear and thermal power plants for 30% to 40% of its needs.
