A recent report by a panel of experts at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on long-term energy strategy toward 2050 calls for a policy shift toward making renewable energy such as solar and wind a "major source of electricity" but fails to set any target for their share of the nation's power supply. Since Japan lags far behind the rest of the world in promoting renewables, the proposed policy should be promptly backed up by clear long-term goals and a concrete road map to put them into action.
The panel's proposal, expected to be reflected in the government's Basic Energy Plan when it's updated this summer, comes amid the pressing need for more action worldwide to combat climate change as well as Japan's changing energy landscape after the 2011 Fukushima crisis.
Since the reactor meltdowns at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 power station, the government has pledged to reduce as much as possible the nation's dependency on nuclear energy while maximizing efforts to increase electricity generation through renewable sources. Its energy mix target for 2030 envisages nuclear power accounting for 20 to 24 percent, renewable sources including hydro power 22 to 24 percent, coal-fired thermal power plants 26 percent and natural gas-fired plants 27 percent.