The annual share of solar power generation in 2024 was 11.4%, a slight increase from 11.2% the previous year. The share of Variable Renewable Energy (VRE), which includes solar and wind,
Japan''s solar power generation market capacity reached a record 102 TWh in 2024, representing 13% of the nation''s total electricity output. This marks a substantial increase from
In May 2021, the Japanese Trade Ministry said that Japan may require up to 370 GW of solar capacity by 2050 to reach the goal of cutting carbon emissions to zero.
Demand is surging from every major consuming segment in the Japan solar power generation market.
In 2022, solar energy accounted for 5.39% of Japan''s total energy mix and 9.91% of its electricity generation. In both cases, solar power in Japan holds the largest share of all renewable
Solar power provided a notable 11%, while nuclear energy contributed roughly 9%. Hydropower added another 9% to the mix, indicating Japan''s continued reliance on traditional low-carbon resources.
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Solar power in Japan has been expanding since the late 1990s. Japan is a large installer of domestic PV systems, with most of them grid connected. The country was a major manufacturer and exporter of photovoltaics (PV), with a global market share of around 50% in the early 2000s. However, by 2019, this had dropped to below 1% due to the rise of state-backed production in China.
The country continues to rank as the world''s fourth-largest generator of solar power and also has the highest solar capacity per unit of land area among major economies [3].
Japan has the third highest solar capacity in the world behind China and the United States, but its formerly rapid growth has slowed considerably.
Japan: Solar electricity generation, billion kilowatthours: The latest value from 2023 is 97.48 billion kilowatthours, an increase from 93.27 billion kilowatthours in 2022. In comparison, the world average
Japan''s largest source of low-carbon electricity is solar, whose share has grown five-fold from 2014 to stand at 10% of generation. Japan is the world''s fourth largest solar generator.
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