The Japan government plans to reduce feed-in tariffs for PV systems and power-generating stations with installation capacity of over 10KWp to JPY27 (US$0.23)/kWh beginning July 2015, which is expected to significantly decrease total installation capacity and in turn imports of China-made PV modules, according to industry sources in Taiwan.
Japan-based PV module vendors, mainly Sharp, Toshiba, Mitsubishi and Panasonic, have increased outsourcing to China-based makers to minimize production cost, the sources said. Consequently, Japan has become the largest overseas market for China-based PV module makers, with six first-tier makers JA Solar Holdings, Trina Solar, Hanwha SolarOne, CSI, Yingli Green Energy Holding and ReneSolar together occupying over 40% of the Japan PV module market, the sources indicated.
The total installation capacity in Japan in 2014 is estimated at 9GWp, the world's second largest PV market next only to China, the sources said. While feed-in tariffs will decrease beginning July, PV systems or PV power-generating stations completed by the end of June can still enjoy the current rates, the sources said.
Total installation capacity in Japan is estimated at 7GWp in 2015, but will shrink to 4-5GWp in 2016 and 2-3GWp in 2017 due to the impact of the feed-in tariff cuts, the sources said.
Since there is considerable demand for PV modules with high energy conversion rates in the Japan market, a portion of PV modules exported by China-based makers are made of Taiwan-produced high-efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells, the sources said. Therefore, the reduction in the Japan market demand will negatively affect Taiwan-based solar cell makers to some extent, the sources indicated.
