Japan's electricity output from renewable sources accounted for 25% of its total in 2023, falling short of the average global share of over 30% and considerably lower than that in some European countries, which topped 80%, local media reported.

 

The Tokyo-based Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies (ISEP) said that Japan's renewable energy share more than doubled from around 10% in fiscal 2011 to its current level, primarily due to the implementation of the feed-in-tariff system in 2012 to promote clean energy.

 

However, Hironao Matsubara, a chief researcher at ISEP, noted that Japan's gap with European countries has been widening since the early 2000s because Europe successfully established a robust system and market that covers more than half of its energy needs through solar and wind power.

 

ISEP calculated the ratio of different energy sources based on power supply and demand statistics compiled by the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, along with other relevant data.

 

Their findings, released on June 10, revealed that renewables accounted for 25.7% of the total energy output in Japan, a 3 percentage point increase from 2022, of which solar energy contributed 11.2%, hydropower amounted to 7.5%, and biomass accounted for 5.7%.

 

Wind power's share finally reached 1%, which is relatively insignificant considering its global importance among renewable energy sources. In Japan, solar and wind power collectively generated half of the renewable power generation.

 

The month May saw the highest share of renewables at 35.1%, the study showed. During this period, electricity output from solar power was curtailed due to excess supply surpassing consumption.

 

According to Ember, an energy think tank, renewables surpassed 30% of the global market share for the first time. Among the EU countries, renewables accounted for 44.3% of their energy usage.

 

Denmark led the way with 87.6%, followed by Austria with 84.5% and Sweden with 69.2%. Germany and Spain also achieved significant milestones, surpassing 50% renewable energy generation for the first time, with 52.4% and 50.1%, respectively.

 

Ember's report further revealed that renewables constituted 30.9% of China's energy output and 22.7% of the US's energy output.

 

In terms of other energy sources in Japan, thermal power took up 66.6%, a decrease of 5.8 percentage points year on year. Coal-fired power represented 28.3%, down 0.5 percentage points. Nuclear energy's share reached 7.7%, the highest since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.