PV market in Japan and impacts of grid constriction

Since the start of the Feed-in Tariff Program in July 2012, the PV market in Japan has been growing and annual installed capacity reached 9 GW level in 2014. Approved capacity of PV systems reached about 70 GW as of the end of November 2014. Because of the large approved number, Kyusyu Electric Power Company started suspension of grid connection contract in September 2014. Totaling 7 utility companies out of 10 suspended grid connection contracts, concerning negative impacts of PV power generation. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) established working group to discuss hosting capacity and measures to introduce more renewable energy. One of the measures is implementation of the curtailment for specific utility companies´ areas. This paper describes status of Japanese PV market and discusses impacts of grid issues gives outlook of future PV market in Japan.