The Upper House on Aug. 26 unanimously enacted an electricity feed-in-tariff scheme law under which Japan's 10 power companies, in principle, will be required to purchase all of the electricity generated through renewable energy sources for long periods at prices advantageous to operators of green energy facilities. The law will go into effect on July 1, 2012.
As Japan is suffering radioactive contamination and power shortages from the ongoing crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, it should fully make use of the law to develop a social system that reduces both reliance on nuclear power and greenhouse gas emissions. Global warming is blamed for the latter.
Some 80 countries and regions have already introduced an electricity feed-in-tariff scheme. In the past decade, there was a move among Diet members to enact such a law. But the power industry and the trade and industry ministry resisted and prevented the enactment. Their move hampered the promotion of electricity generation from renewable sources.