Policy Brief
EIJS Policy Brief, September 2024
Japan's Green Energy Strategy
Following the "Japan's Green Transformation and Its Relationship with Europe", the EIJS Policy Brief of August 2024, this brief explores Japan's electric power energy strategy in greater depth from the perspective of the service ecosystem , focusing on current and challenges.
Japan's electricity supply has traditionally been managed by an integrated system of generation, transmission, and distribution by nine regional private electric power companies since 1951 (later expanded to ten with the inclusion of Okinawa Electric Power). However, since 1995, gradual electricity system reforms have led to the liberalization of generation and retail sectors, as well as the separation of the generation and transmission divisions. Due to the liberalization of generation and retail, many companies have entered the market, with 698 retailers and 942 generators as of December 2020. The current basic structure of electricity supply is: "fuel-producing countries → power generators → transmission and distribution companies → retailers → users (including businesses and individuals)."
Most new entrants are small-scale, and as of April 2024, the top performer, JERA (a joint venture equally owned by Tokyo Electric Power Fuel & Power and Chubu Electric Power), generated 14,902,594 thousand kW, accounting for about 30% of the total, followed by Kansai Electric Power Company (KEPCO) with 8,265,674 thousand kW, about 20% (ANRE, 2024).
According to the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, the total power generated by electric utilities in 2022 was 834.8 billion kWh , with thermal power accounting for about 80%, followed by hydropower (including pumped storage ) at 10%, new energy (solar, wind, geothermal, biomass) at 7%, and nuclear power, which has sharply declined since the Great East Japan Earthquake, at 6% (ANRE, 2023a). In thermal power generation, LNG (liquefied natural gas) is the main fuel at 45.4%, followed by coal at 42.2%, and oil at 3.2%. Most of the fuel is imported, with about 70% of coal and 40% of LNG sourced from Australia, and about 90% of oil imported from Saudi Arabia.
Full Policy Brief (September 2024) is here
Author:
Dr. Keiko Toya
Professor, Graduate School of Global Business, Meiji University
Visiting Professor, European Institute of Japanese Studies
Stockholm School of Economics
Email: i.ktoya@gmail.com, ktoya@meiji.ac.jp
Contact:
https://www.hhs.se/en/Research/Institutes/EIJS/
https://www.hhs.se/en/research/centers/center-for-asian-studies/
List of EIJS Poicy Brief
EIJS Policy Brief, September 2024
"Japan's Green Energy Strategy"
EIJS Policy Brief, August No. 2 2024
"Japanese PM Kishida leaving office"
EIJS Policy Brief, August No. 1 2024
"The European connection to Japan’s Green Transformation"
"Window of opportunity for increased Japan-EU collaboration"
EIJS Policy Brief, November 2023
"Servitization: Origins and examples from Sweden and Japan"
"Sweden-Japan defence cooperation could open up for aerospace industry collaboration"
EIJS Policy Brief, October 2022
"The Abe Legacy"
"Human Resource Development Initiatives in Large Japanese Companies: Coexistence of company-wide uniformity and individual response in the workplace"
EIJS Policy Brief, February 2022
"Carbon border adjustment in the EU-the implications for Japanese exports"
EIJS Policy Brief, September 2021
"Japan - aftermath of the Olympics"
EIJS Policy Brief, January 2021
"Sweden and Japan - 100 days with the new Suga Government"