Are Photovoltaics Required For New Residential Buildings?
According to multiple media reports, the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly of Japan voted to pass the revised regulations that "require new homes in Tokyo to install solar panels from April 2025."
It is understood that this revised regulation was proposed two years ago, and when the regulation officially comes into effect in 2025, according to the requirements of the regulation, from April this year, all new homes in Tokyo, Japan (including residential areas, villas, etc.) will be required to install photovoltaic power generation systems!
Specific Requirements Are As Follows:
1. Small and medium-sized new buildings (including residential buildings) with a total construction area of less than 2,000 square meters:
Thermal insulation and energy-saving performance must be ensured.
All new residential buildings must be equipped with photovoltaic systems.
Electric vehicle charging facilities must be installed.
2. Environmental performance description:
When selling or delivering residential buildings, developers must explain in detail to buyers the energy-saving performance, photovoltaic power generation system and other environmental performance of new buildings.
3. Building environmental report:
Builders need to submit environmental reports
Report whether the building meets relevant standards such as energy saving, water saving and green building. Tokyo will make these report information public.
In addition, according to the authoritative Japanese media "Nikkei", the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan plans to triple the grid-connected electricity price (FIT) for industrial and commercial rooftop photovoltaics and shorten the electricity purchase cycle by 1/4. The plan is to be implemented in the 2026 fiscal year (April 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027).
It is worth noting that Japan is one of the countries that developed photovoltaics earlier. At the beginning of this century, Japan's Sharp Corporation occupied the first place in the global photovoltaic module market share, and other companies such as Kyocera, Panasonic and Mitsubishi Electric also ranked among the top five.
Previously, the photovoltaic power station in Gansu, which is known as the oldest in China, used photovoltaic modules from Kyocera of Japan. Its initial installed capacity was 10KW. It was built in 1983 and has a history of more than 40 years.
At that time, China's photovoltaic industry was still very immature and small in scale. The national output was about 5MW, and this old power station was still able to generate electricity continuously, but for the current modules, the power generation efficiency was far behind.
Although they started early, Japanese photovoltaic companies were unable to continue their glory. Around 2010, the share of Japanese companies in the global market began to decline gradually.
In recent years, Japanese photovoltaic module manufacturers have shrunk and intensified, and more and more companies have withdrawn from the field of photovoltaic module production and manufacturing, including once-strong companies such as Idemitsu Kosan and Panasonic.
In 2023, Japan's Kyocera also closed its photovoltaic panel factory in Tianjin, China. In fact, the factory stopped production in September 2022 and switched to a model of purchasing from Chinese manufacturers. Now, Kyocera's only production base is the Japanese main factory (Shiga Nosu Factory) that produces home photovoltaics.
Judging from the development and trend of new energy in recent years, Japan is definitely an overseas market with great potential. Compared with the shrinkage of the domestic household market last year, the distributed photovoltaic market in Japan and even the entire East Asia will become an important battlefield for photovoltaic exports.